By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
LIMA, Peru – High ranking members of Peru’s military have been sentenced to prison terms that range from fifteen to twenty-five years for their roles in civilian massacres.
Vladimiro Montesinos, former intelligence chief under ex-President Alberto Fujimori, and military commander Nicolás Hermoza, were convicted of ordering and carrying out killings on civilians.
Aside from President Fujimori, Montesinos and Hermoza were the two most powerful men in the political regime from 1990-2000. The two disgraced military men were found guilty of aggravated homicide in the 1991 massacre of fifteen people in the Lima neighborhood of Barrios Altos, and the killings in 1992 of nine peasants in the northern town of El Santa and journalist Pedro Yauri. Montesinos and Hermoza were responsible for authorizing a special commando unit that carried out the killings.
Montesinos and Hermoza’s actions were not an isolated occurrence. Retired generals Julio Salazar, former head of the National Intelligence Service, and Juan Rivero, former head of the Army Intelligence Directorate are also facing twenty-five year sentences for their roles in the massacres. Additionally, Santiago Martin Rivas, the army major who headed the death squad known as the “Colina Group” and major Carlos Pichilingüe, his right-hand man, were sentenced to twenty-five years as well.
Rosa Rojas, whose husband and eight-year-old son were among a group massacred in Barrios Altos stated, “[W]e are satisfied with the sentences, but we aren’t happy. Nothing will relieve the pain we carry inside.” Rojas went on to say that “[m]y son Javier received eight bullets, one for each year of his life. That pain can’t be erased by a sentence.”
In the case of the Barrios Altos massacre, which claimed Rojas’ husband and son, it was later reported that the killers actually went to the wrong address, and slaughtered a group of people who were not suspects.
During the trial, the defendants justified their crimes claiming that they were “at war against terrorism.” The Fujimori regime was struggling with the Shining Path, a violent left-leaning Peruvian terrorist group.
Montesinos is already serving a twenty year sentence for his participation in unrelated human rights abuses. However, under Peruvian law, sentences cannot be served consecutively.
For more information, please see:
Living in Peru – Fujimori’s Right Hand Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison – 5 October 2010
IPS – No Sentence will Bring them Back to Life – 4 October 2010
Latin American Herald Tribune – Former Members of Peru Military Brass Sentenced for Massacres – 1 October 2010
