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Capital punishment in Peru was last used in 1979. In the same year, the death penalty was abolished for ordinary crimes. Peru is one of seven countries that has abolished capital punishment for "ordinary crimes only." [1] Peru voted in favor of the United Nations moratorium on the death penalty in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020. Peru is not a signatory to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. [2]

History

Peru's final execution took place on January 20, 1979, [3] when Julio Vargas Garayar, a 26-year-old Air Force sergeant, was shot by a firing squad for selling classified political information to Chile, who were then considered political enemies of Peru. Vargas was arrested on October 12, 1978, while trying to enter an air base in Talara; he was accused of attempting to enter the base to collect classified information from it. After a brief trial before a military tribunal, Vargas was convicted of the charges. He was formally ordered to pay 100,000 pesos and simultaneously sentenced to death on December 14, 1978; his appeal to the Supreme Council of Military Justice was rejected the day before his execution, [4] and he was summarily stripped of his honors, dishonorably discharged, and executed at 6:00 AM. Some [4] consider the execution to be controversial to this date; Vargas's daughter and other members of his surviving family claim that Peruvian officials forced a confession from Vargas by using torture. [4]

Later in 1979, Peru abolished the death penalty for crimes committed during peacetime, specifying via an amendment in their Constitution that such executions were therefore abolished. However, the Constitution did not abolish executions for six specific wartime crimes: treason, genocide, crimes against humanity, terrorism, war crimes, and murder. [3]

Current usage

Capital punishment is currently[ when?] legal only during times of international or civil war, with several restrictions. Death sentences and executions during this time are allowed for specific crimes and may only be imposed by military courts during states of war. Executions are carried out by a firing squad, and the death penalty is still permitted for the same six specific crimes exempted from the Constitution's peacetime abolition.

In spite of the abolition of peacetime capital punishment and the fact that the government has not carried out an official execution since 1979, there have still been some documented extrajudicial and unofficial executions, such as the Barrios Altos massacre in 1991 [5] and the April 22, 1997, executions of paramilitary hostage-takers in Peru's Japanese embassy. [6]

Modern developments

The Constitution of Peru allows for the reinstatement of the death penalty for peacetime terrorism. On August 8, 2006, President Alan García announced that he planned to submit a bill to the Peruvian Congress proposing that the death penalty be restored during peacetime. [7] The announcement attracted condemnation from human rights groups like the International Federation for Human Rights. The IFHR issued a statement later that month stating that reintroducing the death penalty in Peru would be "a setback for human rights." [8] President García submitted the bill later in 2006. On January 10, 2007, the Peruvian Congress rejected the bill in a 48-27 vote. [9]

Earlier, in August 2006, President García proposed reintroducing the death penalty in Peru for rape and child murder, which attracted condemnation from human rights groups like the International Federation for Human Rights. The IFHR issued a statement later that month stating that reintroducing the death penalty in Peru would be "a setback for human rights." [8]

The February 1, 2018, rape and murder of 11-year-old Jimena Vellaneda in Lima reignited the debate concerning the death penalty in Peru. A week after her murder, more than 4,000 Peruvian citizens participated in a march through Lima protesting her murder and calling for her murderer to receive harsh punishment. [10]

External links

References

  1. ^ "Abolitionist and retentionist countries (as of July 2018)". Amnesty International. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  2. ^ "United Nations Treaty Collection". United Nations. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "1979 - Julio Vargas Garayar, the Last Executed in Peru". ExecutedToday. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Vivas, Fernando (30 March 2015). "El Último Hombre Que Matamos: La Pena de Muerte Revisada". El Comercio (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  5. ^ Baney, Michael (3 November 2010). "1991 - Barrios Altos Massacre". ExecutedToday. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  6. ^ "1997 - Hostage-Takers in Lima". ExecutedToday. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  7. ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (17 August 2006). "The reestablishment of the death penalty in Peru is a setback for human rights". Refworld. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  8. ^ a b "The Reestablishment of the Death Penalty in Peru Is a Setback for Human Rights - Press Release". International Federation for Human Rights. 17 August 2006. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Congreso archiva pena de muerte para los terroristas". El Comercio (in Spanish). 10 January 2007. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  10. ^ Chanduvi Jana, Elsa (23 February 2018). "Peru Debates Death Penalty as Punishment for Sexual Crimes Against Children". Digital Repository. NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
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