Peru enacts security forces amnesty for violations during conflict

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Wednesday signed into law an amnesty bill shielding security forces from prosecution for crimes committed during the political violence and guerrilla warfare that rocked Peru between 1980 and 2000.

“With this historic amnesty, Peru honours its defenders and rejects any interference, internal or external,” Boluarte said as she signed the controversial bill, which Peru’s Congress had passed in July.

“We can’t allow for history to be distorted, for perpetrators to pose as victims, for the true defenders of the country to be branded as enemies of the state,” she said.

The bill applies to members of the armed forces, national police, and self-defence committees who have not received a final sentence in cases related to “the fight against terrorism between 1980 and 2000.”

It doesn’t apply to those already convicted, nor to individuals accused of terrorism or public corruption charges – unless they are 70 years old or older.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights had ordered the Peruvian government to suspend the measure pending a review of its impact on victims.

Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the measure, saying it betrays the victims of the conflict and undermines efforts to bring accountability for atrocities committed in the period.

Between 1980 and 2000, almost 70,000 people died in clashes between Shining Path guerrillas and state security forces. More than 20,000 also disappeared during that period, according to the Peruvian truth commission.

“This law is quite simply a betrayal of Peruvian victims,” said HRW’s Americas director Juanita Goebertus. “It undermines decades of efforts to ensure accountability for atrocities and weakens the country’s rule of law even further.”

When Peru’s Congress approved the bill on the first vote, Amnesty International said it would impact more than 150 cases with a final sentence whose perpetrators would be released, and would end hundreds of other cases under investigation and trial.

“Thousands of families have been seeking justice, truth and reparation for decades,” said Amnesty International Peru’s executive director Marina Navarro at the time. “To close the wounds of the internal armed conflict, it is essential that all victims have access to their rights.”

UN human rights experts had also criticized the bill in July, saying it would put the Peruvian government “in clear breach of its obligations under international law.”

“Peru has a duty to investigate, prosecute and punish gross human rights violations and crimes under international law committed during the conflict,” the UN experts said. “International standards prohibit amnesties or pardons for such grave crimes.”