2
a)
On April 5, 1992, the President of Peru, Mr. Alberto Fujimori, dissolved
Congress and the Court of Constitutional Guarantees, and removed a number
of justices from the bench of the Supreme Court;
b)
On October 31, 1993, Peru’s new Constitution was approved via a
referendum. Article 112 provides that “[t]he president shall serve a five-year
term of office and is eligible for re-election to the immediately subsequent
term. Thereafter, at least one constitutional term of office must pass before
the former president may run for office again, and then subject to the same
conditions;
c)
In June 1996, the new Constitutional Court was seated with the
following seven members: Ricardo Nugent (President), Guillermo Rey Terry,
Manuel Aguirre Roca, Luis Guillermo Díaz Valverde, Delia Revoredo Marsano
de Mur, Francisco Javier Acosta Sánchez and José García Marcelo;
d)
On August 23, 1996, Law No. 26,657 was enacted, which is the Act
Stipulating the Authentic Interpretation of Article 112 of the Constitution.
That law interprets Article 112 as follows: “The [presidential] re-election
refers and applies to the presidential terms of office that begin subsequent to
the date on which the Constitution was enacted into law.” The Authentic
Interpretation Act concludes, therefore, that “presidential terms of office that
began prior to the date on which the new Constitution took effect are not to
be taken into account retroactively”;
e)
On August 29, 1996, the Lima Bar Association filed suit with the
Constitutional Court challenging the constitutionality of Law No. 26,657,
arguing that it was a violation of Article 112 of the Peruvian Constitution;
f)
A public hearing on the case was held on November 20, 1996, with all
seven members of the Constitutional Court present. On December 27 of that
year, the working paper was discussed and a vote taken on it, with five votes
in favor and two opposed. The judgment adopted stated that the law in
question was non-applicable but did not declare it unconstitutional. Under
Article 4 of the Statute of the Constitutional Court, six votes are needed to
settle constitutionality cases, whereas only a simple majority is required to
declare a law inapplicable;
g)
A working paper prepared by Justice Rey Terry, which became a
judgment on December 27, 1996, was removed by Justice García Marcelo and
handed over to the Police. Justice García Marcelo claimed to have found the
draft on the meeting table, in Justice Rey Terry’s folder. He said that “the
document was proof of a scheme designed to thwart the President’s reelection”;
h)
What followed was a campaign to pressure the five justices who had
signed the judgment in question. These five justices said that “they were
intimidated and received threats, blackmail and bribes of all types.” There
were even accusations that Mrs. Delia Revoredo Marsano de Mur and her
husband Mr. Jaime Mur Campoverde, were engaged in contraband;