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Peru (France, 24th) – The Peruvian judicial system sentenced 10 retired soldiers on Wednesday to 6 to 12 years in prison for the systematic rape of nine peasant women during the internal armed conflict against the Shining Path guerrillas between 1984 and 1985.
The verdict, taken into account for crimes against humanity, on Wednesday, June 19, brings to an end five years of hearings in the South American country on this landmark case, the first to address the abuse of women and girls by men in uniform during the period of armed violence (1980-2000).
“The defendants were found guilty of crimes against freedom and sexual honor, considered crimes against humanity,” said National High Court Judge René Eduardo Martínez as he read out the ruling against the 10 former soldiers, who did not appear in court.
The case dates back to 1984, when the army established a base near the Andean towns of Manta and Vierca in Huancavelica department, one of the poorest regions in west-central Peru.
According to investigations, some of the victims were minors when they were abused, and five of them became pregnant.
“This hard fight has been going on for 40 years and I hope this will be a positive response for us and these criminals will finally go to jail,” Maria, one of the victims, whose last name is withheld under a judicial order, said in an audio clip sent to AFP by her lawyer.
The 54-year-old woman was raped when she was 15 and has two children.
Human rights activists and relatives of the victims held a peaceful demonstration outside the court.
“In South America, the Manta case would be the first in which a soldier has been convicted of multiple mass rapes,” Cynthia Silva of Demus, a feminist group that defends women’s rights, told AFP.
This is the second trial in the case, after the judicial system quashed the first trial in 2018 on the grounds of “lack of impartiality of the magistrate.”
Prosecutors have asked for prison sentences of six to 20 years for the military.
Also read Peru: What’s behind the attempt to stipulate crimes against humanity?
Violations against peasant women were exposed in 2003 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR), which collected 35 complaints about incidents between 1984 and 1995, during the bloodiest period of the war between Maoist group Shining Light and the army.
According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, during the two decades of armed violence Peru has experienced, there have been hundreds of cases of sexual rape, sexual slavery, nudity, prostitution, trade unions and forced abortions.
In May this year, the National Single Registry for Victims of Conflict estimated that 5,882 cases of sexual assault had occurred during the violence.
Peru’s internal conflict has left more than 69,000 people dead or missing, with cases of abuse on both sides, according to the CVR.
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