(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN has welcomed the news of the release of Pedro Carranza Ugaz on 2 January 2002 after having served more than eight years of a twenty-year sentence for alleged collaboration with terrorists. Carranza Ugaz received a pardon after a review of his case was carried out by the Ministry […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN has welcomed the news of the release of Pedro Carranza Ugaz on 2 January 2002 after having served more than eight years of a twenty-year sentence for alleged collaboration with terrorists. Carranza Ugaz received a pardon after a review of his case was carried out by the Ministry of Justice’s National Human Rights Council.
The journalist, who worked as a correspondent for Radio Oriental in Jaen and for “El Tarapotino” magazine in Moyobamba before his arrest, was charged with producing propaganda for the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) in Alto Mayo and aiding MRTA leaders in Moyobamba and Rioja. The only evidence brought against him was a confession he had made under duress and statements made by “arrepentidos” (former guerrillas who gave evidence in exchange for reductions in their own sentences). Carranza Ugaz was sentenced on 7 November 1994 and detained in Huacariz prison, in the department of Cajamarca.
International PEN reiterates its call for the immediate release of the two remaining journalists serving long prison sentences on questionable charges of terrorism. Juan de Mata Jara Berrospi, in Miguel Castro Castro prison in Lima, has served over eight years of a twenty-year sentence; whilst Javier Tuanama Valera, in Huacariz prison, has served nearly eight years of a ten-year sentence.
