A. General considerations about the context 1. Indiscriminate violence used by insurgency groups and actions outside the law taken by security forces 52. In its chapter on “armed stakeholders,” the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR) pointed out that, in May 1980, the management of the self-styled Communist Party of Peru―Shining Path (Partido Comunista del Perú–Sendero Luminoso) implemented a project to overthrow the democratic-representative system of government and impose their own ideal of political and social organization in Peru.13 The annihilation of community leaders and local authorities, the personality cult around its leader, Abimael Guzmán Reinoso, the extermination of those peasant communities that did not support it, the deliberate use of terror and other conducts contrary to international humanitarian law were some of the tactics chosen by the Shining Path to build its “new state.”14 According to the CVR, the incidents of violence claimed or attributed to this group led to more than 31,000 deaths, accounting for 54% of the fatalities of the armed conflict, tens of thousands of displaced persons, huge economic losses, and a longlasting despair in Peru’s population.15 53. When its “revolutionary people’s war” broke out in 1984, the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement contributed to the insecurity sustained for many years in Peru and to the violation of the basic rights of Peruvians.16 Among the criminal actions claimed by or attributed to this group are the assaults on commercial establishments, attacks on police stations and the homes of government officials, selected killings of senior government officials, kidnapping of businessmen and diplomats, the execution of indigenous leaders and several deaths because of the sexual orientation or gender identity of the victims.17 54. In its Second Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Peru, the IACHR stressed that the incidents of violence promoted by the Shining Path and the MRTA “le[ft] behind the loss of life and assets (…), in addition to moral harm as a result of the state of permanent agitation to which Peruvian society in general was subject.”18 55. In reports on individual cases and on the human rights situation in Peru, the IACHR underscored that, in the context of the fight against the Shining Path and the MRTA, the police and armed forces engaged in practices outside the law that led to severe human rights violations.19 It also indicated that security agents carried out arbitrary detentions, torture, rape, extrajudicial executions, and disappearances, in many cases against persons without any ties to irregular armed groups.20 13 Final Report of the CVR, 2003, Volume II, 1.1 The Communist Party of Peru Shining Path, pages 29 and 30, available at: www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php. 14 Final Report of the CVR, 2003, Volume I, Chapter 1, Periods of Violence, page 54. Annex 3. Final Report of the CVR, 2003, Volume I, Chapter 3, Faces and Profiles of Violence, pages 168 and 169. Annex 1. Final Report of the CVR, 2003, Volume II, 1.1 The Communist Party of Peru Shining Path, pages 127 to 130. Annex 4. Final Report of the CVR, 2003, Volume VI, 1.1 Killings and Massacres, page 16. Available at: www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php. 15 Final Report of the CVR, 2003, Volume II, 1.1 The Communist Party of Peru the Shining Path, page 13, available at: www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php. 16 433. Final Report of the CVR, 2003, Volume II, 1.4 The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, pages 387, 389, 392, and 431 to 17 Final Report of the CVR, 2003, Volume VII, 2.30 Disappearance of Ashaninka Chief Alejandro Calderón (1989), 2.39 Killing of nine inhabitants in Yumbatos, San Martín (1989), 2.54 Kidnapping and killing of David Ballón Vera (1992), available at: www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php. 18 IACHR, Second Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Peru, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.106, Doc. 59 rev., June 2, 2000, Introduction, B. Framework of Reference, para. 7, available at: www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Peru2000sp/indice.htm. 19 IACHR, Second Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Peru, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.106, Doc. 59 rev., June 2, 2000, Introduction, B. Framework of Reference, para. 9, available at: www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Peru2000sp/indice.htm. 20 IACHR, Report No. 101/01, Case 10.247 et al., Extrajudicial Executions and Forced Disappearances of Persons, Peru October 11, 2001, paras. 163 to 179, available at: www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/2001sp/Peru10247.htm. IACHR, Report No. 57/99, Cases 10.827, Romer Morales Zegarra et al., and Case 10.984, Carlos Vega Pizango, Peru, April 13, 1999, paras. 28 to 44, available at: [continues …]