(IPYS/IFEX) – The Special Court on Terrorism has acquitted one civilian and three former soldiers accused of being the intellectual and material authors of the 17 October 1996 bomb attack against the Puna local affiliate of Global Television and Radio Samoa. (See IFEX alert) The majority decision acquits former military officers Angel Luis Sauni Pomaya, […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – The Special Court on Terrorism has acquitted one civilian and
three former soldiers accused of being the intellectual and material authors
of the 17 October 1996 bomb attack against the Puna local affiliate of
Global Television and Radio Samoa. (See IFEX alert) The majority decision
acquits former military officers Angel Luis Sauni Pomaya, Luis Barrantes
Yanez and Favio Urquizo Ayma of terrorism charges. Also acquitted was the
accused intellectual author of the attack, ex- legal advisor to the Region
of Moquegua Tacna Puno, Guido Mendoza Bernardo.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 17 October and 7 April 1997 and 24 October 1996**
Also freed with this decision were soldiers Victor Sulluchuco de la Cruz and
Miguel Angel Guzman Castillo, who, according to the investigations, had
delivered the explosives to Sauni Pomaya and Barrantes Yanez in order to
carry out the attack.
The only member of the Special Court on Terrorism, which functions out of
the high security prison in Yanamayo in the highland Department of Puno, to
oppose the acquittal of the accused was Judge Urial Valladares Aparicio, who
called for a seven year sentence for the four. The other two judges tipped
the balance in favor of acquittal becuase in their view, according to
judicial sources, the accused were not immersed in terrorism since they were
not members of either the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) or of
Sendero Luminoso.
Upon the announcement of the court’s decision, Special Prosecutor Pedro
Ramos Mirando launched an immediate appeal to the Supreme Court. In his
charges, he had asked for a sentence of 24 years against the accused.
Background Information
On 18 October 1996, the Puno offices of Global Television and Radio Samoa
suffered a bomb attack which damaged sound and transmission equipment and
broke the windows of nineteen nearby homes. On 17 March 1997, following
investigations, the Public Prosecutor for the Department of Puno released
his opinion that the four accused had committed a terrorist act.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the President of the Supreme Court:
Global Television affiliate made only on the invalid grounds that they are
not terrorists because they do not belong to the MRTA or Sendero Luminoso
Appeals To
Dr. Marcos Ibazeta
President of the Supreme Court
Lima, Peru
+511 426 8851
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
