PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 46/001/2008

04 January 2008

UA 05/08 Fear for safety/Death threats

PERU Gloria Cano Legua, (f) – human rights lawyer

Staff of the human rights organization APRODEH (Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos)

In violation of their right to defend human rights, members of APRODEH, Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (Association for the Protection of Human Rights) received death threats through an anonymous telephone call on 18 December 2007. The threats particularly targeted human rights lawyer Dr. Gloria Cano Legua, who has been working on legal cases for victims of human rights violations allegedly committed under former president Alberto Fujimori and for which he is currently on trial.

The anonymous telephone caller reportedly said “Los vamos a matar porque son terroristas; a Gloria Cano, la vamos a matar porque es una basura terrorista, todos son unos hijos de puta mal nacidos…” ("We are going to kill you because you are terrorists; we are going to kill Gloria Cano because she is terrorist trash, you are all ill-bred sons of bitches")

Gloria Cano Legua is one of the legal representatives of the families of victims in the cases of La Cantuta and Barrios Altos in the ongoing trial of former president Alberto Fujimori. The next public hearing for the trial against Alberto Fujimori is on 4 January. Amnesty International is gravely worried for her safety and that of all human rights defenders working on issues relating to this trial.

Amongst the charges against Alberto Fujimori are the Attorney General’s accusation of qualified homicide, grievous harm and forced disappearance, for a massacre at Barrios Altos and for the 1992 killings and forced disappearance of nine students and a professor from the Enrique Guzmán y Valle University for Education in Lima, known as La Cantuta.

These crimes have been attributed to the so-called "Colina Group", a paramilitary group created in 1992 within the National Intelligence Service under the command of Vladimiro Montesinos. The group was created as part of a new counter insurgency strategy carried out by Alberto Fujimori. On the basis of the accusation of the Attorney General, a Supreme Court Judge issued a detention order against Alberto Fujimori in September 2001. The order asserted that there was convincing evidence indicating that the former president knew of the existence of the "Colina Group".

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Throughout Peru’s internal armed conflict Amnesty International reported on abuses committed by Peruvian state security forces but also repeatedly expressed its condemnation and opposition to the thousands of abuses perpetrated by the armed opposition groups Partido Comunista del Perú (Sendero Luminoso), PCP, Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path) and the Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru, MRTA, Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.

Amnesty International believes that the work of human rights defenders is vital for the protection and promotion of human rights for everyone and as such recommends that Peru establishes and implements a comprehensive plan for the protection of human rights defenders in line with the final recommendations of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued in 2003 and with international legal norms.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language:

- expressing concern that human rights defender Gloria Cano Legua, along with fellow human rights defenders at APRODEH, received an anonymous death threat on 18 December 2007;

- expressing concern for her safety and for the safety of all human rights defenders working on cases relating to the ongoing trial of former president Alberto Fujimori;

- urging the authorities to take immediate steps to guarantee the safety and protection of Gloria Cano Legua, in accordance with her own wishes;

- urging the authorities to carry out an independent and impartial investigation into the death threat received by APRODEH and Gloria Cano Legua, making the results public and bringing those responsible to justice;

- asking to be informed of the results of this investigation;

- urging the authorities to send a clear public message that they will not tolerate intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders;

- stating that human rights defenders are a fundamental part of society and that the protection of human rights depends on human rights defenders being able to carry out their work without fear of reprisals.

- calling on the Peruvian government to elaborate policies and plans in cooperation with human rights defenders, including national protection plans, to ensure the implementation of the principles of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and OAS resolutions.

APPEALS TO:

Minister of Justice

Dra. Rosario Fernández Figueroa

Ministra de Justicia

Ministerio de Justicia

Scipión LLona N° 350

Miraflores

Lima, Peru

Fax: + 51 1 422 3577

Salutation: Sra. Ministra

Minister of the Interior

Economista Luis Alva Castro

Ministro del Interior

Ministerio del Interior

Plaza 30 de Agosto, s/n

Corpacs

San Isidro

Lima, Peru

Fax: + 51 1 225 7234

Salutation: Sr. Ministro

COPIES TO:

Human Rights Organisation

Asociación pro- Derechos Humanos

APRODEH

Jr. Pachacútec 980

Jesús María

Lima 11, Perú

Fax: + 51 1 431 0477

and to diplomatic representatives of Peru accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 15 March 2008.