Former Military Leadership Sentenced For Massacres

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Vladimiro Montesinos Entering Courtroom (Photo courtesy of IPSnews.com)
Vladimiro Montesinos Entering Courtroom (Photo courtesy of IPSnews.com)

 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

Rioters Attack Police Protecting Gay Pride March In Serbia

Anti-gay protestors attack police at Gay Pride march in Belgrade. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)
Anti-gay protestors attack police at Gay Pride march in Belgrade. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia — Thousands of far-right extremists threw petrol bombs, stun grenades, and stones at police protecting a Gay Pride march in Belgrade on Sunday. The police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Over 100 people, mostly police, were injured and over 200 hundred arrested during the march, which was seen as a major test of Serbia’s pledge to protect minorities and human rights.

Mark Lowen of BBC News was at the scene. “As Gay Pride ended the street protests gathered pace. I stood on Terazije boulevard watching demonstrators hurl rocks at armed police, who responded with tear gas. Some officers retreated, bleeding,” he reported.

Many of the anti-gay rioters wore black and hooded tops, according to the AFP, and  shouted “death to homosexuals” as they threw Molotov cocktails, stones, and glass bottles at the police. The police estimated that 6,000 rioters faced 5,600 policemen. The rioters also fired shots and hurled Molotov cocktails at the headquarters of the ruling pro-Western Democratic Party, as well as the state TV building and headquarters of other political parties.

According to the AP, Jelko Kacin, the official heading the European Parliament’s evaluation reports on Serbia, stated that the anti-gay riots “show an elementary lack” of tolerance for minority rights in Serbia and the “inefficiency” of the state in preventing such a trend. The official further noted that a “bad message” was sent which could hurt Serbia in its bid to join the EU.

Serbian President Boric Tadic said in a statement following the riot, “Serbia will guarantee human rights for all its citizens, regardless of the differences among them, and no attempts to revoke these freedoms with violence will be allowed.”

This was the first Gay Pride march in the city since 2001. The march planned for last year was ultimately cancelled because the government said they could not guarantee the safety of the participants in light of threatened anti-gay violence.

For more information, please see:

AP — Official: Anti-gay riots send wrong message to EU — 11 October 2010

AFP — Rioters attack Serb police, ruling party HQ at Gay Pride — 10 October 2010

MSNBC — Dozens hurt, arrested in clashes at Serb gay pride march — 10 October 2010

BBC — Scores arrested in Belgrade after anti-gay riot — 10 October 2010

CNN — Serbia gay pride march attacked with bombs, stones — 10 October 2010