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handle cases of this type are threatened, intimidated and even prosecuted for
serving as defense counsel to the accused.
b.
Testimony of Grimaldo Achaui Loaiza, defense counsel for Mr. Jaime
Francisco Castillo Petruzzi
The crime of treason should apply to aliens only “under special
circumstances”: i.e., when they owe allegiance and loyalty to Peru. He felt
threatened serving as counsel for the defense, particularly because of the
treatment he received when taken to the Las Palmas Base on the day of the
preliminary hearing before the “faceless” military judge. At that hearing, he
was not permitted to speak with his client, who was in handcuffs and
blindfolded for security reasons. All his client managed to tell him was that
he did not know the charges against him. At the hearing, he was neither
informed of the charges against his client nor permitted to see the case file.
For that reason, he was unable to put on a defense. He was not permitted to
confer with Mr. Castillo Petruzzi until after the lower court ruling was handed
down.
After repeated requests, he was given access to the thousand-page case file
for some forty minutes after the preliminary hearing had concluded, and then,
together with the attorneys for the other defendants, for an hour the day
before the court of first instance handed down its decision. During this
second viewing of the case file, he had to prepare his arguments and then
present them that same day before the Military Judge of Inquiry, who would
read the judgment of first instance the following day.
Given the
circumstances, he felt that the judge did not take his defense arguments into
consideration.
The procedure followed in the military court system does not allow defense
counsel to view the evidence and know the charges during the preliminary
hearing; nor is the defense counsel permitted to cross-examine witnesses or
the DINCOTE officers who took part in the investigative phase. He did not file
for a writ of habeas corpus since, with the suspension of guarantees, that
remedy had been unavailable since 1990.
Once the high court decided to convict and Supreme Court of Military Justice
denied the request for review, the defendant was held incommunicado for one
year at the Yanamayo Prison. Thereafter, his attorney had no further contact
with him. Whereas ideally sentences should rehabilitate, there is no type of
rehabilitation for those convicted of treason or terrorism. The system used
with them is utterly inhumane.
With all the impediments he encountered, he felt his defense was futile. Still,
he stayed with Mr. Castillo Petruzzi’s case so as not to leave him without
defense counsel. Attorneys for defendants accused of treason or terrorism
are intimidated and even prosecuted.
c.
Testimony of Héctor Salazar Ardiles, Chilean attorney who visited the
Yanamayo Prison
In December 1994, Mr. Salazar Ardiles was a member of a delegation
composed of representatives of the Human Rights Commission of the Chilean