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example, those resulting in the conviction of innocent people. Indeed, this led
to the creation of an ad hoc Commission, which, by means of a pardon,
achieved the liberation of these individuals. Thus, the essential structure of
the legislation and, therefore, the reservations, were in force throughout
Alberto Fujimori’s regime.
In July 1999, the Government decided to declare itself in default before the
inter-American system, by attempting to withdraw unilaterally the State’s
acceptance of the contentious jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court; a
situation that was reversed with the fall of Alberto Fujimori’s regime. One of
the first decisions adopted by the transition Government presided by Mr.
Paniagua Corazao was the annulment of the State’s situation of default and
the renewal of respect for and compliance with the obligations of the
American Convention assumed by Peru.
On January 3, 2003, the Constitutional Court of Peru (File No. 010-2002
AI/TC Marcelino Tineo et al. case) ruled on the constitutionality of some of the
provisions of Decree Laws Nos. 25,475 and 25,659. That tribunal declared the
unconstitutional nature of the crimes known as treason (Articles 1 and 2 of
Decree Law No. 25,659 – crime of treason), recalling the arguments put
forward by the Court in the Castillo Petruzzi et al. case. The central concern
was the existence of duplication in the categories of the crime of treason, in
relation to the pre-existing categories of the crime of terrorism.
That tribunal also declared that the crime of justification of terrorism,
established in Article 7 of Decree Law No. 25,475, was unconstitutional, since
it created an excessive incrimination of this type of crime, because it was
already established more precisely in Article 316 of the Penal Code, as
justification of a crime. It also questioned the crime of justification of
terrorism, because it was contrary to the principle of legality in its restricted
sense, as well as respect for the right to freedom of expression. Furthermore,
it established certain criteria for interpreting the said Article of the Penal
Code, and stated that, in its opinion, they were extremely strict criteria that
adequately delimited the crime of justification of terrorism.
The Constitutional Court also delimited and defined the interpretation of the
prohibited conduct in the basic crime of terrorism (Article 2 of Decree Law No.
25,475). The Court retained the constitutionality of this norm by delimiting its
objective elements and open clauses, and establishing clarifications, which
were incorporated into its text. According to the witness, the foregoing
provided sufficient guarantees in light of the principle of legality.
The Constitutional Court interpreted the threat and application of the penalty
of life imprisonment in a restricted sense, by explaining that it would only be
constitutional if provisions were introduced into domestic legislation to
preclude it from being a penalty with no time limit, and providing for the
possibility of eventual release from prison. Hence, it urged Congress to
include a threshold above which it would be possible to review the sentence.
As a result of the Constitutional Court’s ruling, a series of legislative decrees
were issued to adapt anti-terrorist legislation to that tribunal’s decisions and,
particularly, its interpretative criteria. Accordingly, Legislative Decree No. 924