Peru: Congress approves law limiting crimes against humanity and war crimes, despite IACHR order

LThe Permanent Commission of the Peruvian Congress approved this Thursday, in a second vote, the law that limits the application and scope of crimes against humanity and war crimes, in open defiance of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), which asked the Peruvian State to annul it due to the statute of limitations that it meant for some of these cases.

The law was approved with 15 votes in favor, 12 against and no abstentions in a session of the Permanent Commission, which put it as one of the first topics of debate.

Last Tuesday, the IACHR had requested the State of Peru to “take the necessary actions through its three branches to ensure that bill No. 6951/2023-CR, which provides for the statute of limitations for crimes against humanity committed in Peru, is not adopted, repealed or given validity.”

The Commission also ordered Peru to submit a full and detailed report on compliance with its mandate by August 9 at the latest.

The bill seeks to prevent anyone from being prosecuted for crimes against humanity or war crimes that occurred before 2002 and therefore excludes the period of internal conflict (1980-2000) that left more than 69,000 victims in the country.

The initial proposal was approved on June 7 by the full Congress with 60 votes in favor, but it would require this second vote to be ratified and, precisely, this court ordered Peru on June 13 to stop its process until it issued a resolution on the matter.

The project was proposed by the Fujimorist party Fuerza Popular and by the ultraconservative Popular Renewal, bench made up in part of former heads of the Armed Forces, and It aims to prevent anyone from being prosecuted for crimes against humanity or war crimes that occurred before 2002. and therefore excludes the period of internal conflict (1980-2000) that left more than 69,000 victims in the country.

Peruvian Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzén said on Wednesday that he is “outraged” by the IACHR’s order on the, until today, bill.

“I am outraged, absolutely outraged, by the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has decided in the most unusual way, and without any precedent, on a bill that has not even been converted into a law,” Adrianzén said when asked about the issue.

The Prime Minister added that it is “intolerable” that the supranational court calls on the three powers (Executive, Legislative and Judicial) “of a sovereign member state” such as Peru, not to approve or apply a law.

He said he was promoting a joint statement by the three powers to express “their rejection of this type of provisions coming from supranational justice.”

Human rights organizations say that this initiative will affect access to justice and truth for victims of human rights violationsspecifically in the cases of La Cantuta and Barrios Altos, for which former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2009.