Families of victims and advocacy groups condemn law that covers internal armed conflict from 1980 to 2000
Human rights groups and families of victims of Peru’s two-decade internal armed conflict have expressed outrage after the country’s government granted a blanket amnesty for all military and police officers accused of human rights crimes from 1980 to 2000.
The Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte, signed the amnesty – which was approved by the country’s congress last month – into law on Wednesday, to the applause of military top brass and ministers at Lima’s government palace.
The legislation prevents the criminal prosecution and conviction of former soldiers, police officers and self-defence committee fighters accused of serious human rights violations in the country’s fight against leftist insurgents of the Mao-inspired Shining Path and other groups.
Gisela Ortiz, the sister of one of the victims of a 1992 death squad massacre, said on X: “A government that violates human rights enacts an amnesty law for those who support it: police and military personnel who murdered, disappeared and raped between 1980 and 2000.”
