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e)
Testimony of Luis Percovich Roca, former Minister for Foreign
Affairs of Peru, who issued Baruch Ivcher Bronstein’s nationality title
He was President of the Chamber of Deputies and the Congress of the Republic and,
subsequently, Minister of Fisheries, of the Interior, and for Foreign Affairs, and
President of the Council of Ministers.
“He sign[ed] the “supreme resolution” [which granted nationality to Mr. Ivcher] when
it had been signed by the President of the Republic”, recording that the respective
official procedures had been verified by all the relevant officials. He identified as his
the signature on the document submitted to him, which corresponded to the said
certificate. The naturalization process followed by Mr. Ivcher Bronstein complied
with all the requirements established in Article 91 of the 1979 Constitution, Law No.
9168 on naturalization, “Supreme Decree” No. 402 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and the directives for the process. He also fulfilled the requirement of renouncing his
Israeli nationality.
There was never any legal action or observation that questioned the granting of the
nationality title or that requested its annulment; those proceedings were filed 13
years later. Accordingly, the way in which the certificate was annulled is not legal
because a “supreme resolution” cannot be annulled by a lower-ranking legal
decision. Furthermore, the legislation does not establish any means of annulling
nationalization; it only stipulates the official procedures required to obtain
nationality. He had never heard of this type of case.
f)
Testimony of Rosario Beatriz Lam Torres, Head of Imports,
Productos Paraíso del Perú
She began to work for Productos Paraíso del Perú on August 17, 1987, as secretary
to the presidency and the board, until July 1993, when she became of Head of
Imports.
Different types of harassment occurred. With regard to Productos del Paraíso del
Perú, pressure was put on the customs authorities as of 1997. Under Peruvian law,
10 per cent of imports must be physically appraised, but all the factory’s imports
were physically assessed. Police and Army helicopters flew very low over the factory
for about three months. They also received threatening telephone calls, visits from
strange people, and once an incendiary artifact, which they were able to control, was
thrown at the building. Finally, the factory was charged with the crime of defrauding
the customs and tax authorities. On a personal level, she received threatening
telephone calls, she was frequently followed by people in cars with dark windows and
the telephones in her house were tapped. Then she was charged with customs and
tax offenses, for which she was detained from February 6 to November 17, 1998.
She was sentenced to four years with parole; then, on appeal, the sentence was
reduced to three years with parole. During the proceeding, she had several lawyers,
but none of the evidence that she offered was accepted; the court only evaluated the
evidence submitted by the Intelligence Service, which consisted of photocopies of
documents that had been adulterated; they never showed the originals.
She was often pressured by the judge and the prosecutor, and also at the offices of
the Treasury Police Force, who wanted to charge Mr. Ivcher with having committed
those crimes and of having altered invoices in order to increase their value and pay