(IPYS/IFEX) – The Peruvian National Police’s (PNP) Yungay division has failed to act on two arrest warrants for suspects in the murder of journalist Antonio de la Torre. The arrest warrants were issued on 19 March and 2 April 2004. De la Torre was killed on 14 February in Yungay, in Peru’s northwestern Ancash region. […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – The Peruvian National Police’s (PNP) Yungay division has failed to act on two arrest warrants for suspects in the murder of journalist Antonio de la Torre. The arrest warrants were issued on 19 March and 2 April 2004. De la Torre was killed on 14 February in Yungay, in Peru’s northwestern Ancash region.
Magistrate Nancy Menacho López, of the Yungay provincial court, forwarded the warrants to the PNP’s citations department and the headquarters of both the Justice Support Division and the PNP. The warrants are for the arrest of Enma Elizabeth Martínez and Moisés David Julca Orrillo, both of whom are accused of homicide. However, to date the court orders have not been enforced.
On 19 May, the victim’s family, local journalists and members of organisations based in Yungay and Huaylas protested the police’s lack of action on the case before the Ancash Superior Court, which is presided by Judge Jorge Miguel Alarcón Menéndez. The following day, Judge Menéndez sent an official letter to the Ancash regional police chief, Colonel Edgardo Pastor Vigo, ordering him to immediately execute the arrest warrants.
IPYS spoke with Ancash Ombudsman Luis Alburqueque Castro, who said he would meet with the police chief to ask him why he has failed to carry out the court orders.
The Yungay PNP division has reportedly justified its inaction by claiming that they do not know the suspects’ whereabouts. However, de la Torre’s widow, Dina Ramírez, says both suspects are known to be in the region’s capital, Huaraz, and that the security forces do nothing. Ramírez has been granted protective measures because of repeated threats against her.
De la Torre was stabbed to death by two individuals when he was on his way to his house. The journalist was known for his criticism of corruption in the Yungay municipality’s administration under Mayor Amaro León León. On 18 March, the mayor, who is suspected of having ordered the assassination, was arrested and detained in the Huaraz prison. Martínez is his daughter.
