Peru's President Dina Boluarte has signed a controversial amnesty law pardoning hundreds of military personnel, police, and civilian militias accused of human rights abuses during the country's brutal conflict with Shining Path rebels. The measure was enacted despite an order from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to suspend it pending a review of its impact on victims.
The law will benefit hundreds of members of the armed forces, police, and self-defence committees accused of crimes committed between 1980 and 2000. It also mandates the release of those over 70 serving sentences for such offences.
Deadly conflict's scope
During the two-decade conflict, the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebel groups waged insurgencies in which an estimated 70,000 people were killed and more than 20,000 disappeared, according to Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The commission found that state agents, notably the armed forces, were responsible for 83% of documented sexual violence cases.
Boluarte, who became the country's first female president in 2022, said the Peruvian government was paying tribute to the forces who fought against terrorism and in defence of democracy. Right-wing parties including Keiko Fujimori's Popular Force party supported the amnesty law, according to reports.
International condemnation
Human rights organisations have condemned the law. Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, called it "a betrayal of Peruvian victims" that "undermines decades of efforts to ensure accountability for atrocities".
United Nations experts and Amnesty International had urged Boluarte to veto the bill, saying that it violated Peru's duty to investigate and prosecute grave abuses including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence. UN experts said the amnesty could halt or overturn more than 600 pending trials and 156 convictions.
Pattern of impunity
Peru adopted a statute of limitations for crimes against humanity committed before 2002 last year, effectively shutting down hundreds of investigations into alleged crimes committed during the fighting. Reports suggest similar amnesty laws passed in 1995 were twice declared invalid by the Inter-American Court for violating international human rights standards.
The initiative benefited late president Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for atrocities including the massacre of civilians by the army but released from prison in 2023 on humanitarian grounds. He died in September 2024.
Sources used: "PA Media", "BBC", "Independent" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
