Despite major political changes and repeated commitments to human rights by
those in power, torture and ill-treatment remain widespread in prisons,
police stations and military installations in Peru, Amnesty International
said today.
The organization is releasing a new report today highlighting how political and common prisoners, criminal suspects and military conscripts continue to suffer torture and ill-treatment -- including electrical shocks, asphyxiation, near-drowning, beatings, sexual abuse and denial of food at the hands of state officials and military personnel.
"Torture and ill-treatment continue to thrive on a culture of impunity fed by the lack of adequate investigations, a climate of intimidation against victims who dare to speak up, and failure to bring those responsible to justice," Amnesty International stated. "It is of great concern that, since torture was criminalized by law under President Fujimori's administration in 1998, little has been done to put an end to this scourge, and in only two cases have perpetrators been sentenced," the organization added.
Confessions extracted under torture are still widely admitted as evidence in court and often provide the sole basis for convictions. In prisons and military barracks torture and ill-treatment are used to punish, discipline and humiliate inmates and new recruits.
those in power, torture and ill-treatment remain widespread in prisons,
police stations and military installations in Peru, Amnesty International
said today.
The organization is releasing a new report today highlighting how political and common prisoners, criminal suspects and military conscripts continue to suffer torture and ill-treatment -- including electrical shocks, asphyxiation, near-drowning, beatings, sexual abuse and denial of food at the hands of state officials and military personnel.
"Torture and ill-treatment continue to thrive on a culture of impunity fed by the lack of adequate investigations, a climate of intimidation against victims who dare to speak up, and failure to bring those responsible to justice," Amnesty International stated. "It is of great concern that, since torture was criminalized by law under President Fujimori's administration in 1998, little has been done to put an end to this scourge, and in only two cases have perpetrators been sentenced," the organization added.
Confessions extracted under torture are still widely admitted as evidence in court and often provide the sole basis for convictions. In prisons and military barracks torture and ill-treatment are used to punish, discipline and humiliate inmates and new recruits.