Peru president issues amnesty for hundreds accused of atrocities

Peru's president has signed a controversial new law pardoning soldiers, police and civilian militias on trial for atrocities during the country's two-decade armed conflict against Maoist rebels.

Dina Boluarte enacted the measure that was passed by Congress in July, despite an order from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to suspend it pending a review of its impact on victims.

The law will benefit hundreds of members of the armed forces, police and self-defence committees accused of crimes committed between 1980 and 2000.

It will also mandate the release of those over 70 serving sentences for such offences.

During the conflict, the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebel groups waged insurgencies in which an estimated 70,000 people were killed and more than 20,000 disappeared, according to Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Boluarte, elected in 2022 as the the country's first female president, said the Peruvian government was paying tribute to the forces who - she said - fought against terrorism and in defence of democracy.

Human rights organisations have condemned the law. Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, called it "a betrayal of Peruvian victims" that "undermines decades of efforts to ensure accountability for atrocities".

United Nations experts and Amnesty International had urged Boluarte to veto the bill, saying that it violated Peru's duty to investigate and prosecute grave abuses including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence.

UN experts said the amnesty could halt or overturn more than 600 pending trials and 156 convictions.

The TRC found that state agents, notably the armed forces, were responsible for 83% of documented sexual violence cases.

Last year, Peru adopted a statute of limitations for crimes against humanity committed before 2002, effectively shutting down hundreds of investigations into alleged crimes committed during the fighting.

The initiative benefited late president Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for atrocities - including the massacre of civilians by the army - but released from prison in 2023 on humanitarian grounds. He died in September 2024.