Peru: Top cop under cloud put on rights commission

[Judi Lynn]

Peru: Top cop under cloud put on rights commission
The Associated Press
Updated: 04/25/2010 04:30:11 PM CDT


LIMA, Peru—A Peruvian police chief facing homicide charges over a deadly clash with Indian protesters has been named to a government commission responsible for defending officials charged with human rights violations.
Police Gen. Luis Muguruza, who commanded a police operation against an Indian road blockade last June that resulted in 33 deaths, was named a member of the Interior Ministry's human rights commission, according to a decree published Saturday in the government's official gazette.

Muguruza faces charges involving the deaths of four Indians as part of charges brought by prosecutors against a total of 17 police officers. Two clashes near the Amazon jungle town of Bagua killed 10 civilians and 23 officers.

Gloria Cano, a lawyer who specializes in human rights, said Sunday that Muguruza's new position could allow him to "lead his own defense in court."

More:
http://www.twincities.com/national/ci_14957057?nclick_check=1

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[Derechos]

1. Article and audio from Servindi website in Peru on Luz Rojas Méndez,

former prosecutor of Utcubamba in the Amazonas, who received death threats after initiating an investigation last summer of 16 police officers, including Muguruza, for their role in the deaths of indigenous protesters and their supporters during the violent events of Bagua. Although Rojas requested protection from the Ministry of the Interior and the Peruvian National Police, she was still without protection as of December of last year. She was also transferred to another district and replaced by a prosecutor who was less included to question the goverment's version of events in Bagua. http://www.servindi.org/actualidad/20498?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Servindi+%28Servicio+de+Informaci%C3%B3n+Indigena%29

Despite repeated by its Chair,Jesús Manacés, the Garcia administration failed to provide several important documents to the Commission of Inquiry into the Violent Events of Bagua including Rojas's report. The government also denied the Commission access to an internal investigation conducted by the PNP's own Inspector General that was highly critical of the police's actions in Bagua. http://www.servindi.org/actualidad/20357?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Servindi+%28Servicio+de+Informaci%C3%B3n+Indigena%29

See also IPS interview of Jesús Manacés discussing why he decided not the sign the Commission's final report citing repeated governmental obstruction of the Commission's work including the government's failure to provide the two reports on the PNP's actions in Bagua. http://www.ipsnoticias.net/nota.asp?idnews=94325