3 8. In August 1996, Law No. 26,655 created a commission to evaluate and propose to the President the granting of pardons and commutation of sentences for those convicted of treason based on insufficient evidence, where it might be reasonably presumed that they had no association with any terrorist activities or organizations. This commission worked until December 31, 1998 and thanks to its proposals miscarriages of justice in trials that mistakenly ended to convictions have been corrected and those who suffered unduly have been compensated. With this partially concurring opinion, I have explained what terrorism has meant for the Peruvian people and the extraordinary lengths to which Peru was forced to go to stamp out the terrorist violence and pacify the country. Nevertheless, given the provisions of the Convention and the fact that they are binding upon the Peruvian State, I have concurred in the Court’s finding that the proceedings instituted under the emergency laws against the Chilean citizens who, as members of the MRTA, took up arms to threaten the lives of Peruvians and the safety of the citizenry, were invalid. But for the same reasons, I cannot concur with the Court’s finding to the effect that the Peruvian State violated Article 9 of the Convention: 1. Article 9 of the Convention embodies the principle nullum crimen sine lege, nulla poena sine lege, which informs the criminal justice systems of the countries of the inter-American system for the protection of human rights. In Peru, that principle is embodied in Article 2, subparagraph d of paragraph 24 of the 1993 Constitution, just as it was in the 1979 Constitution (Art. 2.20.d). 2. Decree-Law No. 25,659, which classifies aggravated terrorism as treason, describes the distinctive features that distinguish aggravated terrorism from generic terrorism, the legal description of which appears in Article 2 of Decree-Law No. 25,475. In effect, Decree Law No. 25,659 specifies the aggravating circumstances that make simple terrorism treason: "a) Use of car bombs or similar explosive devices, weapons of war or similar weapons that kill people or inflict physical injury or affect their mental health or damage public or private property, or any other means that pose a serious threat to the public; b) Storage or unlawful possession of explosive materials, ammonium nitrate or the elements used to manufacture it, or willing provision of materials or elements that can be used in the manufacture of explosives, their use in the acts provided for under the previous subparagraph (Article 1).” It adds that “The following shall constitute treason: a) membership in the ranks of the leadership of a terrorist organization, either as leader, chief or the like; b) membership in armed groups, bands, death squads or similar groups in a terrorist organization, and charged with the physical elimination of persons; c) supplying, providing, disseminating reports, data, plans, projects and other documents or facilitating terrorists’ access to buildings and premises in one’s charge or custody and thus helping to bring about the destruction described in subparagraphs a) and b) of the preceding article (Article 2)." Having thus described the aggravating circumstances that transform simple terrorism into treason, Decree-Law No. 25,659 stipulates that treason shall carry the penalty of life imprisonment.