9
9:30 p.m. a vessel was ready to take him to the Island. He interviewed the
prison's director, who told him that the Island was under Navy control. He
also interviewed the Vice-Minister of the Interior who informed him that the
Government, by means of the Council of Ministers, had entrusted the Armed
Forces with subduing the riots. After that, there were explosions and a
blackout. Then, he approached a fence about 50 meters away from the
prison and started shouting that prisoners' delegates should show up, but
there was no reply. He was not allowed to speak to the Commander in Chief
of the military operation, and while he was boarding the vessel at dawn, he
heard a series of explosions. Three days later, he found out on mass media
about the deaths caused by the actions to subdue the riots. He tried to go
back to the prison but he was not allowed to do it because the prison had
become a Restricted Military Zone. In some other rioting cases, lethal
weapons were not needed to subdue the uprisings. Prisoners of El Frontón
could not escape anyway. Guarantee or habeas corpus recourses in the
specific case of El Frontón were inefficient to protect the life, physical
integrity, and fundamental rights of individuals. While removing the corpses,
fingerprints, tooth prints and footprints are usually taken, and photographs
and fingerprints are taken when a prisoner goes to jail.
f)
Testimony of José Antonio Burneo Labrín (attorney and
professor of the human rights course in Universidad Mayor de San
Marcos)
In 1986, he was director of the Juridical Department of the Comisión
Episcopal de Acción Social (CEAS) of the Catholic Church. Two or three
weeks after the events, Mrs. Alegría, the mother of Victor Neira Alegría and
the father of Edgar Zenteno Escobar and William Zenteno Escobar, went to
this office asking for information on the whereabouts of their relatives. Thus,
he presented an habeas corpus recourse before the Twentieth First Court of
Instruction of Lima, on July 16, 1986. The Chairman of the Joint Command of
the Armed Forces and the General Commander of the Navy declared that said
information should be requested to the penal authorities or to the Special
Judge of the Navy in charge of body removal. The President of the National
Penal Council submitted a list of detainees in El Frontón on the day of the
events, including 152 inmates, among them Víctor Raúl Neira Alegría and the
Zenteno brothers, and also reported on the availability of 27 safe and sound
detainees and seven wounded people. The judge determined that habeas
corpus did not proceed, a decision that was appealed, and the Correctional
Court of Lima by two votes against one decided that there was no cause for
the appeal. On August 25, 1986 an extraordinary appeal was filed before the
Supreme Court, and the Penal Court of this Trial decided to declare no nullity.
CEAS filed an extraordinary appeal before the Constitutional Guarantees
Court, and four of its members voted in favor of, that is, only one vote was
missing to reach nullity because five favorable votes are required. Therefore,
the national instance was exhausted. He advised the family to appeal before
the Inter-American Commission.
g)
Testimony of César Delgado Barreto (attorney)
This witness was elected Senator in 1985 and served as member of the
Human Rights Justice Commission of the Senate. After the events in the