Víctor Polay Campos and other members of the MRTA tour the Sisa Valley in November 1987. Yuyanapaq Monument (Creative Commons)
72-year-old Víctor Polay Campos, leader of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), one of the terrorist groups that devastated Peru in the last century, continues to incite the Peruvian population from his cell at the Callao naval base. It has just been announced that in March 2022, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) declared admissible a petition filed in 2007 by Polay Campos alleging that he was “constantly tortured” during his detention in June 1992. which “violated his right to the principle of legality and judicial guarantees” and that the “conditions of detention imposed on him compromised his personal integrity”.
Polay Campos grew up politically within the Peruvian Aprista party, he was close to its founder, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, and to former president Alan García, his contemporary. In the 1980s he radicalized, founded an armed organization inspired by the Cuban Revolution and masterminded kidnappings, murders and attacks. An episode that represented him and the authorities of the time in full was the escape from a maximum security prison, in which he took part along with almost fifty Emerretista comrades, through a 250 meter long tunnel in July 1990. An escape of historical importance that struck the state and the institutions.
It would take a few years for Polay Campos to be recaptured, and thus began the disintegration of the MRTA. Their most ruthless and memorable action was the attack and hostage-taking of the Japanese ambassador’s home in Lima between 1996 and 1997. One of the Emerretistas’ most urgent demands during these four months of uncertainty was the release of their leader and his fellow comrades. None of this was possible. In a military operation called Chavín de Huantar, no terrorist was left alive and Polay Campos remained imprisoned to this day. In 1992, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a faceless court, but the sentence was overturned in 2001. In 2006, he was sentenced to 32 years in prison for the crimes of terrorism, aggravated terrorism and forgery, which was increased to 35 years in 2008.
The plaintiffs – including lawyer Javier Valle Riestra, a long-time APRA member and former president of the Council of Ministers in 1998 – claim that in April 1993, in the courtroom of Yanamayo Prison, their first detention center, “a group of people in uniform beat and gave Polay Campos electric shocks; That same month, he asserts that while he was being taken to Lima by helicopter, he was “lifted up in limbo, acting as if he were being thrown into the void.” They also claim that “he was in a cell with the structure of a tomb, without doors or windows, with only an opening in the ceiling”, and that “there was a ban on granting interviews and discussions about his criminal and legal situation”. “For thirteen years, his constitutional right to freely practice his religion was prevented as he was denied access to a priest or spiritual advisor” and that “he was also not allowed to exercise his right to intimate visits with his partner, as well as compensation for work.” – or study punishment.”
Luis Vargas Valdivia, former anti-corruption lawyer, believes that the sentence that Polay Campos received was well handed down and that the big fear is that “he is not sorry for any of his actions.” “He always recognized that these actions were part of a process of internal conflict and struggle for the poor,” he adds. Some ministers in Dina Boluarte’s current government have also spoken out on this issue. “Every person has the right to apply (for a lawsuit) if their rights have been violated. That’s why we are part of the Inter-American Commission. Of course the executive will present a counter reaction,” explained Interior Minister Vicente Romero.
Julio Demartini, head of the development and social inclusion portfolio, has a different perspective. “Other people who are demanding some rights today are those who have forgotten that hundreds of thousands have lost their lives because of false ideologies.” Renovación Popular congressman Jorge Montoya has taken advantage of the situation to disqualify the IACHR. “We must withdraw from the Court and the Human Rights Convention because it does us no good. “All it brought us was help and compensation for the terrorists,” he said.
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The approval of the IACHR application bears the signature of lawyers Stuardo Ralón Orellana and Margarette May Macaulay and lawyers Esmeralda Arosemena, Joel Hernández and Carlos Bernal. The IACHR must convene a hearing for the Peruvian state and Polay Campos’ defense to present their allegations. The next step the court will take will be to make a substantive decision. Gustavo Adrianzén, Peru’s representative to the OAS, has stated that the IACHR does not have the power to overturn or modify a judgment, but that it can promote an analysis of the issue. Víctor Polay Campos’ prison sentence ends in 2026.
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