16 Association of Peru, which have assumed her defense at the domestic and the international level. She asked the Court to put an end to injustice, because her life has changed and been frustrated, and she has not been able to watch her children grow, which cannot be repaired. Her situation and her anguish have affected her whole family – her mother, her children and her siblings – who “suffer as if they had been imprisoned with [her] and, for many years, with the threat of being associated with [her] and losing their liberty.” She hopes that the resolution of the case will allow “physicians to exercise their profession freely, as an act of humanity that should be exercised without fear of any kind of discrimination.” b. Testimony of Abdón Segundo Salazar Morán, physician He was born in Piura, Peru; he is 59 years of age, and a cardiologist. The Medical Association of the Peruvian Social Security Institute and the Human Rights Committee of the Physicians’ Professional Association of Peru, as professional associations of medical professionals, defend physicians in their legal disputes and when their rights are violated. The Physician’s Professional Association always supports any members who is detained, tried and imprisoned for medical activities, and provides financial and institutional support for the defense of physicians who are unfairly imprisoned. Both institutions defended numerous physicians during the dictatorship of former President Alberto Fujimori, when many physicians were detained for having treated alleged terrorists. In 1992, the witness and Physician Álvaro Vidal Rivadeneyra, who were Presidents of AMSSOP and the Defense Unit of the Social Security Institute, respectively, were attacked, and suffered several injuries. Subsequently, they were dismissed from their posts in public hospitals. As physicians and, in accordance with the Hippocratic Oath, they are obliged to protect the lives of all human beings without discrimination. The Physician’s Professional Association only assumed the defense of a member when the case referred to the criminalization of medical activities, because this directly affected all members and the fundamental principles of the medical profession. The next of kin of Physician De La Cruz Flores advised AMSSOP and the Physicians’ Professional Association about her detention when the witness was a member of the administrative staff of both institutions. The witness has been kept up to date about the detention, trials and conviction of the alleged victim, through her next of kin, specifically, her mother and her sister, Alcira. When he was a member of the AMSSOP administrative personnel, this association supported the case of Physician María Teresa De La Cruz Flores by communiqués and petitions to different public and jurisdictional instances. Although the Physician’s Professional Association does not provide direct legal advice to its members in cases before the domestic courts, it provided advice to the next of kin of Physician De La Cruz Flores for the defense of her case; this support was, above all, before the international instances.