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MRTA - The Lives Of Political Prisoners In Peru Are In Danger!

The Lives Of Political Prisoners In Peru Are In Danger!

Translated by Arm The Spirit

Background Information On The Occupation Of The Japanese
Ambassador's Residence In Lima, Peru


Live cameras are aimed at the Japanese ambassador's residence and
carry the images all across the world. The occupation action of a
commando from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
(MRTA) has cast a spotlight on the social and political conditions
which exist in Peru under the elected dictator Alberto Fujimori.
While a majority of Peruvians live in poverty and distress, the
beneficiaries of neo-liberal policies and martial law celebrate their
wealth at events such as the disgusting banquet in honor of the
Japanese Emperor.

The MRTA are demanding, in addition to changes in economic
policy in order to benefit the majority of the population, the
liberation of more than 400 political prisoners. The real danger
exists that the Fujimori government, like other regimes in the past,
will take revenge against the prisoners. In past years, there have
been several massacres, for example in 1986 in the prisons at
Lurigancho, El Fronton, and the women's prison at Callao, when
over 250 prisoners were murdered. But the presence of
international media is no deterrent to the Peruvian government: The
1986 massacre was carried out at the same time as the Socialist
International was holding its annual congress in Lima.

Media reports about the seizure of the Japanese ambassador's
residence largely overlook the background of this situation. For
this reason, we would like to focus attention on the situation of the
prisoners and human rights in general. On December 16, 1996, the
MRTA prisoners in Miguel Castro Castro prison launched a
massive, unlimited hunger strike.

The initiative Libertad was founded to campaign for an
international Day of Struggle to call for "Freedom For All Political
Prisoners World-Wide!" Libertad is in solidarity with the struggle
of the Peruvian hunger strikers and we support their demands:

1) An end to isolation detention and the discriminatory treatment
handed down against C. Victor Polay and other MRTA leaders, and
for these people to be shown in public so that their condition may
be seen. We demand that they be transferred to civilian prisons.

2) The immediate repeal of Anti-Terror Law Nr. 25475, which
mandates "faceless" civilian and military judges and super speedy
trials with no right to a defense.

3) The immediate repeal of the special detention conditions, which
are in violation of recognized national and international
fundamental human rights. We especially call for international
humanitarian norms to be adhered to.

4) For humane treatment of prisoners, and improved prison
conditions (access to defense counsel, better food, health, and
jobs).

The list of human rights violations in Peru is a long one. Here are
just a few examples:

In the maximum security prison inside the Callao navy base, cells
are 8 meters underground. The prisoners there are detained in cells
with no natural light.

All prisoners are held in total isolation for their first year,
thereafter they are allowed only 30 minutes in the yard each day.
Only immediate family members may visit them. Prisoners are not
allowed books, newspapers, or radios.

Women prisoners are guarded by men.

Some maximum security prisons, like the one in Yanamayo, are
built in regions whose climates are so harsh that prisoners suffer
serious health problems as a result.

Guards are allowed to mete out punishments as they see fit.

In extremely short trials, defendants are often sentenced by the
military to life in prison. The judges are masked and thereby remain
anonymous to the defendants.

Since 1990, the construction of high security prisons has increased
dramatically in Peru. Most of these are designed to confine
prisoners in isolation conditions. The experiences of Germany in
this field have led to several visits by high-ranking Peruvian
officials to consult with their German counterparts on this issue.

Isolation detention is part of the "psycho-social campaign"
designed to break the prisoners and force them to abandon their
struggle. The maximum security prisons, which President Fujimori
once described as "prison tombs", are, in short: "The place where
they will rot and only come out when they are dead."

The anti-terror laws now in force in Peru were enacted in May
1992. This state of emergency allows for the mass arrest of
opposition activists. Mechanisms of protection, codified in
international accords against torture and inhumane mistreatment,
have been eroded by these laws. All prisoners are tortured and
mistreated, and they are subjected to unfair trials. Since 1983,
thousands of people have "disappeared" due to state-sponsored
murders or torture. Almost none of these acts of state-sponsored
human rights violations have ever been investigated.

On the contrary: On June 16, 1995, President Fujimori issued a
general amnesty which quashed all investigations or indictments of
human rights violations which occurred after May 1980. The few
persons who had been convicted of such crimes before this amnesty
had their sentences annulled, and if any happened to be in prison,
they were released. This get-out-of-jail-free policy, therefore, freed
all state murderers and torturers. This criminalization of the victims
is also in line with Fujimori's economic policies, which have been
enacted on the backs of Peru's poorest classes.

The demands of the embassy occupiers and the prison hunger
strikers must be fulfilled!

The prisoners must be freed!
 
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