Peruvian prosecutors seek preventive detention for eight soldiers over death of five civilians in Huancavelica
Peru's Public Ministry sought 18 months of preventive detention for eight Army members investigated for the killing of five people, including a Colombian citizen, during an operation in the Huancavelica region.
Peruvian prosecutors seek preventive detention for eight soldiers over death of five civilians in Huancavelica
Peru's Public Ministry sought 18 months of preventive detention for eight soldiers investigated in connection with the death of five civilians during an operation conducted on 25 April in a rural area of the Huancavelica region in the south of the country, official sources reported on Monday.
The Public Ministry indicated that the request was filed by the First Specialised Supraprovincial Prosecutor's Office for Human Rights in the central Andean region of Junín, which is handling the case.
The military personnel are being investigated for the alleged commission of qualified homicide, as well as for attempted qualified homicide against three other citizens who survived the operation.
According to the Public Ministry, the defendants, who belong to the Peruvian Army, are alleged to have committed disproportionate use of force during the operation. The investigations are being conducted in the context of serious human rights violations.
The incident took place on 25 April on the Colcabamba-Ayacucho highway in the jurisdiction of the Andean province of Tayacaja, when a van carrying at least seven people was fired upon by soldiers during an anti-drug operation in the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro Rivers Valley (Vraem).
As part of the fiscal investigation, the eight soldiers involved were initially detained and subsequently released with appearance orders.
The soldiers' account states that they fired on the vehicle because it continued moving despite orders to stop, and that its occupants began firing at them. However, preliminary proceedings found no weapons or drugs in the vehicle attacked by Army members.
In response to this case, the organisation Amnesty International expressed deep concern and demanded an investigation into whether arbitrary or excessive use of force occurred.
Amnesty International recalled that international law requires that any intervention be governed by the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality. The organisation stressed that stigmatising the victims without investigation or judicial determination violates the presumption of innocence and affects access to truth and justice.
For its part, the National Human Rights Coordinator (Cnddhh) demanded an immediate, independent investigation with due diligence into what occurred, as well as the application of effective sanctions against all those responsible.
The general commander of Peru's National Police (PNP), Óscar Arriola, reported that among the victims was a Colombian who had entered the country irregularly and clandestinely, and who had international criminal records for arms trafficking.
The Vraem is an extensive mountainous jungle zone spanning territories of five regions in central and southern Peru, where more than half of the cocaine exported by the country—the world's second largest producer of the drug—is produced. In that zone, drug trafficking organisations operate alongside the final remnant of the subversive group Shining Path.
Source: Infobae/EFE
Source: Google News PE — Crime