(IPYS/IFEX) – In a 16 December 2003 letter to Judge María Margarita Grados Grados, of Lima’s 31st Criminal Court, IPYS expressed concern over the reopening of legal action against the owner of Frecuencia Latina Canal 2 television station, businessman Baruch Ivcher Bronstein, and his former colleagues, José Cabello Ortega, Julio Genaro Sotelo Casanova and Benjamín […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – In a 16 December 2003 letter to Judge María Margarita Grados Grados, of Lima’s 31st Criminal Court, IPYS expressed concern over the reopening of legal action against the owner of Frecuencia Latina Canal 2 television station, businessman Baruch Ivcher Bronstein, and his former colleagues, José Cabello Ortega, Julio Genaro Sotelo Casanova and Benjamín Gustavo Lazo Cieza. The charge against the four men relates to the alleged falsification in 1994 of Frecuencia Latina financial records.
Judge Grados Grados initiated the renewed legal action against Ivcher Bronstein and his former colleagues at the request of Prosecutor Delia Milagros Espinoza Valenzuela. The case began in 1998, under the government of Alberto Fujimori, when Ivcher Bronstein was stripped of his Peruvian citizenship. After the fall of Fujimori’s government, the various legal actions against Ivcher Bronstein were annulled.
On 6 February 2001, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared the sentence against Ivcher Bronstein to be invalid, with specific reference to the denial of his rights as a Canal 2 majority shareholder. The court ordered the Peruvian government to completely reinstate Ivcher Bronstein’s rights.
The court’s ruling was carried out by the Public Law Tribunal, which also declared the actions against Ivcher Bronstein to have been unfounded and illegal. In its letter to Judge Grados Grados, IPYS wrote, “It appears that you have not taken into consideration the 30 March 2001 Public Law Tribunal’s ruling.” IPYS also noted that the legal action initiated by the judge could place her with those judges that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Peruvian government to investigate and punish for having participated in the case against Ivcher Bronstein.
Finally, IPYS urged the judge to reconsider the facts of the case and abandon the action against Ivcher Bronstein, in accordance with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ ruling.
