Peru
16.07.02
Urgent Interventions

Peru: Rolando Quispe Berrocal sexually abused during military serice

Case PER 160702
Torture / Ill-treatment in military barracks

The International Secretariat of the OMCT requests your urgent intervention in the following case in Peru.

Brief description of the situation:

The International Secretariat of the OMCT has received information concerning the case of violence and sexual abuse perpetrated against the conscript Rolando Quispe Berrocal, who was doing his voluntary military service in the “Domingo Ayarza” barracks in Ayacucho.

According to the information obtained from reliable sources, on July 8th 2002, towards 12.00 in the evening, unidentified people knocked the door of the barrack’s warehouse, for which the conscript Quispe Berrocal was that night responsible. To his request of identification the conscript was given as an answer shouts and insults, he apparently recognized the voices and subsequently opened the door. He saw three men wearing balaclavas. They violently pushed him inside, made him smell an unknown substance and then lost consciousness.

The reports add that in the morning of July 9th 2002, the official responsible woke him up, he had not presented himself for breakfast, and as a punishment made him do 20 arm flexions. The conscript could only do 10 as he claimed he was feeling unwell and had a strong stomach ache. The official ordered him to have breakfast but he went instead to the infirmary. He was immediately transferred to Huamanga regional hospital in Ayacucho.

According to the reports Mr. Quispe Barrocal was examined in the emergency room of the hospital and later sent to a specialist. The doctor found a bottle-like container with a fixed light bull on its top inside his rectum. The object had approximately a 5 centimetres diameter, and was 18 centimetres long.

The source states that Mr. Quispe Barrocal is under military custody in the hospital of Ayacucho. This situation makes difficult the access to his family members, to his lawyer, the media, as well as the human rights organisations. It has been denounced that military officials have interrogated him, and had made him sign documents that he has not been allowed to read beforehand. They also obliged him to provide his finger print. In addition, it has been claimed, a lawyer who was facilitated the access to the conscript’s room, tried to convince the victim to allow him to represent him in court.

The military institution, the reports add, opened charges against the conscript, arguing that his claim is false, and that he is a homosexual who introduced the object into his body himself. Mr. Quispe Barrocal had recognized and identified the voices of his two aggressors

Despite the condition of isolation in which he was put in, the Office of the Peoples’ Defender, the Public Ministry (specifically, the third Public Prosecutor’s Office in Huamanga) and the Peruvian Human Rights Commission (Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Perú) -COMISEDH- succeeded in talking to him and are now taking legal action. COMISEDH lawyers have assumed the legal defence of the victim.

The International Secretariat of the OMCT condemns this acts, and shares its concern with the other human rights organisation in Peru for the security and the physical and psychological integrity of the conscript Rolando Quispe Berrocal. The OMCT would also like to remind that an act of torture is considered as a “Crime against humanity” in the Peruvian Penal Code.

Requested action:
Please write to the authorities in Peru urging them to:

i. Take immediately the necessary measures to ensure the security and physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Quispe Berrocal;

ii. Take the necessary measures to end the condition of isolation imposed on the victim, as well as the military custody;

iii. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation within a common law framework, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the adequate penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions in accordance to the law;

iv. Guarantee Mr. Rolando Quispe Berrocal the right to reparation;

v. Guarantee in all circumstances the respect of the human rights and fundamental freedoms in conformity with the national legislation and the international human rights standards, in particular with the dispositions of the American Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention Against Torture.

Addresses:
· Dr. Alejandro Toledo, Presidente de la República ;
Calle Palacio de Gobierno s/n Plaza Mayor, Lima. Perú Teléfono: (+ 51 1) 222 36 66.

· Dra. Nelly Calderón Navarro; Fiscal de la Nación ; e-mail : webmaster@mpfn.gob.pe
Av. Abancay Cdra. 5 s/n, Lima. Perú. Telefax: (+ 51 1) 426 28 00

· Sr. Ministro: Fernando Rospigliosi, Ministerio del Interior, Canaval y Moreyra, Cdra. 6, Lima, Perú. Tel.: (+ 51 1) 225 02 02. Fax: (+ 51 1) 222 24 05

· Sr. Ministro: Fernando Olivera Vega; Ministro de Justicia;
Scipión Llona Nº 350, Miraflores, Lima 18. Perú. Teléfono: (+ 51 1) 440 43 10.
Fax: (+ 51 1) 422 35 77

· Sr. Ministro: Aurelio Loret de Mola Bohme ; Ministro de Defensa ;
Av. Arequipa Nº 291, Lima. Perú. Teléfono: (+ 51 1) 433 51 50
Fax: (+ 51 1) 433 69 06

· Dr. Walter Albán Peralta, Defensoría del Pueblo, Jr. Ucayali 388 - Lima, Perú.
Tel.: (+ 51 1) 426 46 26. Fax: (+ 51 1) 426 66 57

· Dr. Ricardo Quispe Pérez, Presidente de la Corte Superior de Justicia de Ayacucho ; Portal Constitución Nº 20 – Palacio de Justicia de Ayacucho, Perú.
Fax: (+ 51 6) 481 36 16
· Dr. Esteban Urbano Minaya; Fiscal Superior Decano de Ayacucho.

Please also write to the diplomatic representation of Peru in your respective countries.

Geneva, July 16th 2002

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken, quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.