3
happened to the arrested person. That is, the victim entered an established circuit of
clandestine detention, which only very lucky people could survive.” (para. 80(5)).
10.
Regarding the “methods applied to destroy evidence” of the crimes
committed, the Court remembers that the CVR itself pointed out that these included,
among others, “mutilation or incineration” of the mortal remains of the victims (para.
80(7). In this case of La Cantuta, the Court considered proved that the “incinerated
bone remains” found in Cieneguilla were part of a “secondary burial,” as they “had
already remained in other graves” and, after having been removed and burnt (“the
bodies were burnt in state of putrefaction”), were “taken and buried in the Chavilca
region” (para. 85(34). That is, the violation of the principle of human dignity took
place not only in life, but also after life.
11.
It is notorious and public that the illegal detention, followed by extra-legal
execution of the victims of cases of both Barrios Altos and La Cantuta, were
perpetrated by the “death squad” called “Grupo Colina.” This extermination group
was directly organized within the hierarchical structure of the Peruvian State armed
forces, and
"carried out a State policy consisting in the identification, control and
elimination of those persons suspected of belonging to insurgent groups or who opposed
to the government of former President Alberto Fujimori. It operated through the
implementation of systematic indiscriminate extra-legal executions, selective killings,
forced disappearances and tortures.” (paras. 80(18)).
12.
An account of the history of "Grupo Colina" says that former President A.
Fujimori and his consultant V. Montesinos made that choice so as to combat
terrorism with the “clandestine war” of “State terrorism,” performing “kidnapping,
forced disappearances and extra-legal executions,” and using the “perverse resource
of transferring liabilities to lower ranks,” thus eluding “their direct liability”; however,
the so called “Grupo Colina” was authorized to act “from the highest Government
instance.”1 The crimes of both Barrios Altos and La Cantuta constituted an
unequivocal and conclusively proven part of a State policy.2 An analysis of the Final
Report of the CVR confirms, fully detailed, the criminal operations of “Grupo Colina,”
with express reference and accounts of the crimes of both Barrios Altos and La
Cantuta as part of a behavior pattern of criminal conduct on the part of the State. 3
13.
Considering the above, it is concluded that we are, in the case of La Cantuta
and in the context of this sinister State strategy, unequivocally in the presence of a
State crime which also -as set forth by this Judgment- counted on the State
concealment of the facts and the systematic obstruction of the investigations,
including the destruction of evidence of the serious crimes committed. In this case of
La Cantuta, it was conclusively proven that premeditation (mens rea), planning and
commission of the crime, under aggravated circumstances, and the subsequent
1
U. Jara, Ojo por Ojo - La Verdadera Historia del Grupo Colina (The True Story of the Colina
Group), Lima, Edit. Norma, 2003, pp. 59-60; and cf. pp. 75, 78, 88 and 124, for the “learnt lessons” by
the murderers at the Escuela de las Américas.
2
3
Ibid., pp. 180-181, and cf. pp. 130-133, 144, 150-151, 160-163 and 177-179.
Cf. Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación de Perú (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru)
(CVR), Informe Final (Final Report), book VII (Part I: The Process, the Facts, the Victims), Lima, CVR,
2003, pp. 81, 97, 100, 116, 119, 130-158, 233-245 (case of La Cantuta), 369, 390, 475-493 (case
Barrios Altos); and cf. pp. 455-473 on the case of students disappearances of Universidad Nacional del
Centro (1990-1992).
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