(Washington, D.C.) — The special human rights prosecutor of Ayacucho, Cristina Olazábal, risks dismissal for filing charges against former president Alan García Pérez in connection with a massacre that took place during his presidency, Human Rights Watch said today.
On April 13, a senior official of the Ayacucho public prosecutor’s office recommended that Cristina Olazábal be dismissed, after accepting a complaint made by Alan Garciá’s lawyer. The official asserted that she had failed to substantiate allegations against García before filing charges against him. The disciplinary recommendation is now awaiting a final decision by Peru’s attorney general, Nelly Calderón.
“Given the importance of fully investigating and prosecuting these cases whatever the outcome, the state must ensure that there is no political interference,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “If officials who investigate sensitive cases are punished without proper cause, confidence in the judiciary will be lost and Peru’s legal obligations on human rights will be compromised.”
Peru’s official Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that more than 60,000 people died or “disappeared” during the internal armed conflict that ravaged the country during the 1980s and 1990s. Yet steps toward prosecuting the perpetrators of these crimes have been disappointingly slow. Civilian prosecutors have advanced significantly in only a small number of cases.
Since her appointment in 2003 as a special prosecutor for enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and exhumation of secret graves, Olazábal has conducted investigations into massacres in Ayacucho, the region hardest hit during the conflict.
In February, 2005, she filed charges with an Ayucucho court against former President Alan García for his alleged criminal responsibility in failing to prevent the killing of 69 peasants in the Ayacucho village of Accomarca. The massacre occurred in August 1985, less than three weeks after Alan García took office. Olazábal is also investigating García’s possible responsibility in a mass killing in the community of Cayara in May 1988, in which 25 peasants died.
Alan García was president of Peru from 1985 until 1990, and is a frontrunner in the polls for next year’s presidential elections.
When the Accomarca investigation became public, García’s defense lawyer accused Olazábal publicly of being “a red leader” and pro-Shining Path when she was a university student. A leading congressman from Alan García’s political party, the Peruvian Aprista Party, made similar accusations.
In fact, Olazábal has also conducted investigations into Shining Path atrocities. She recently opened criminal proceedings against Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán, now awaiting trial in prison, for a notorious 1983 massacre in Lucanamarca. Her work investigating atrocities by both sides in the conflict in Ayacucho has been praised by relatives of victims and Peruvian human rights groups.
Olazábal reportedly received anonymous death threats after she started investigating the army massacres.
The post of special prosecutor for enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and exhumation of secret graves was created in 2002 following recommendations by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Commission called on Peru to carry out a complete, impartial, and effective investigation to determine the circumstances of the extrajudicial execution and forced disappearances of 119 victims, and bring those responsible to justice.
Cristina Olazábal is a provisional prosecutor without tenure in her post. Her provisional status means that she easily could be dismissed if the complaint is upheld, rather than just taken off the case.
