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Peru: Judge rules against isolation of
Chairman Gonzalo
A Lima judge
has ruled that Chairman Gonzalo (the party name of Abimael Guzman) must
be allowed all the rights of other prisoners, including visits without
any restrictions or special conditions. The Communist Party of Peru
(PCP) leader had staged a 35-day hunger strike against a new regulation
barring him from direct contact visits, including with his lawyer. The
judge accepted Chairman Gonzalo’s habeas corpus petition and ruled that
the regulation is unconstitutional. Further, according to newspaper
reports, the judge said that the conditions of isolation to which he has
been subjected are also unconstitutional and indicated that there is no
legal basis for Chairman Gonzalo to be kept in a special underground
dungeon on a Navy base instead of in an ordinary civilian prison, where
he would be treated like any other inmate. Naval authorities have
refused to implement the judge’s ruling so far, in view of a possible
appeal. The PCP leader’s present lawyer Manuel Fajardo has filed a
petition with the same judge, asking him to order immediate compliance
with the ruling. Chairman Gonzalo has been held in relative isolation
since 1992, when he was convicted of "treason" for leading the people’s
war that began in 1980. That conviction had been declared
unconstitutional and he is awaiting a new trial along with other PCP
leaders and members.
[Taken from A
World to Win News Service, June 14, 04] |
