LIMA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Peru on Thursday obeyed a ruling by
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to free a university
teacher wrongly imprisoned for terrorism since 1993 after
confessing under torture to being a Shining Path rebel.
     "I am innocent, but nobody can give me back the time I have
lost in this prison," an indignant Maria Elena Loayza told
reporters as she left the Chorrillos women's prison in Lima.
     "Not even financial recompense the government may give me
can compensate for all the pain my family has suffered, for my
emotional and physical deterioration," she added as relatives
hugged her.
     The Costa Rica-based rights court, an arm of the
Organization of American States, ruled on Sept. 20 that Loayza
should be freed on the grounds that she had been arbitrarily
detained, tortured and raped by Peru's anti-terrorist police. 
     The ruling marked the first time an international court had
overturned a conviction by Peru's "faceless" courts and may bring
a stream of appeals from convicts sentenced in similar cases. 
     Peru on Wednesday abolished its secret tribunals, which in
their five-year existence have put thousands of leftist rebels
behind bars but also jailed hundreds of innocent people.
     Since 1995 the government has freed nearly 250 prisoners
falsely convicted of terrorism. It admits 400 more people may be
wrongly imprisoned, but rights groups put the number closer to
1,000.
     The international court's ruling ordered the government to
pay damages to Loayza and her family and to reimburse them for
the cost of their lengthy judicial battle with Peruvian
authorities.
     "After five years, I think justice has been done. I suffered
a lot in jail," Loayza said. "I thank the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights and just ask to be reintegrated into society."
     Loayza, a mother of two who taught at Lima's San Martin de
Porres University, was detained on Feb. 6, 1993, after being
fingered by a "repentant" Shining Path guerrilla in police hands.
She was humiliated by being publicly displayed wearing a
black-and-white striped terrorist prisoner's uniform.
     According to the rights court's ruling, she was
systematically tortured "with the aim of having her declare
herself guilty and confess to belonging to the Communist Party of
Peru (Shining Path)".
     In her testimony, Loayza recalled being blindfolded, tied up
and taken with other detainees to a beach, where she was beaten,
stripped, raped and held underwater until she lost consciousness.
     She was absolved by a military court but then convicted on
terrorism charges by anonymous judges in a faceless civilian
court and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.

----
Con las Masas y las Armas, Patria o Muerte ... VENCEREMOS!
MRTA Solidarity Page - http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/mrta.htm

M.R.T.A. homepage di TM Crew