Jugo Viera, of APRODEH, reported that there is a Project driven by the Peruvian National Government that aims to regulate the use of lethal force by the Police in protest situations. According to the specialist the Government is striving for the right of the Police Force to use lethal actions in situations such as road blocks or facility takeovers.
The director of APRODEH speaking about this on National Radio said that the objective of the guidelines is “to give carte blanche to the trigger happy”. In turn, Jugo explained that if a Judge files an accusation against a policeman for being “trigger happy” the case would be taken to a court martial.
He also recalled that in 2007 a package of legislative measures were launched regarding the immunity from prosecution of police officers who cause deaths with the use of regulatory weapons. Finally, Jugo Viera pointed out that during 2009 Peru has been witness already to 52 cases of people assassinated in protests in the country.
And he speculated that if the Government continues with these measures “there may be more of these types of cases”.
(PÚLSAR/CNR)
*(Translation provided by Ramiro Pozzo)*
