(WiPC/IFEX) – The former director of “Cambio” magazine, Yehude Simon Munaro, was released on Saturday 2 December 2000 after serving over eight years of a twenty-year sentence. Simon, a former leftwing member of congress, had been arrested on 11 June 1992 and subsequently convicted of supporting terrorism through his writings in “Cambio”. Despite the fact […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – The former director of “Cambio” magazine, Yehude Simon Munaro, was released on Saturday 2 December 2000 after serving over eight years of a twenty-year sentence. Simon, a former leftwing member of congress, had been arrested on 11 June 1992 and subsequently convicted of supporting terrorism through his writings in “Cambio”.
Despite the fact that the country’s Ad Hoc Commission had long since found him innocent, former president Alberto Fujimori consistently refused to sign papers ordering his release. With the fall of Fujimori and the installation of an interim government, this situation has at last been redressed. The new justice minister, Diego García Sayán, personally went to Lima’s Castro Castro prison to lead Simon Munaro out. García Sayán described the release as being not so much a favour as an act of justice.
On leaving prison, Simon Munaro – an honorary member of Canadian, English and Swedish PEN – thanked all those who had campaigned on his behalf but added, “I cannot be completely happy when I know that this very prison still holds many innocent people, people who deserve a chance. I cannot sleep soundly while they unjustly serve out their sentences.”
There remain five journalists serving time in Peruvian prisons: Antero Gargurevich Oliva, Juan de Mata Jara Berrospi, Hermes Rivera Guerrero, Javier Tuanama Valera and Pedro Carranza Ugaz.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the authorities:
– encouraging them to immediately release all five journalists serving time in Peruvian prisons: Antero Gargurevich Oliva, Juan de Mata Jara Berrospi, Hermes Rivera Guerrero, Javier Tuanama Valera and Pedro Carranza Ugaz, pending reviews of their respective cases
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:Dr Valentín Paniagua Corazao
Presidente de la República
Palacio de Gobierno
Tel/Fax: +51 1 426 6770 / 426 6535 / 427 6722Diego García Sayán Larrabure.
Ministro de Justicia
Fax: 422-3577Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
