Скачать или смотреть PERU: PRISONERS PARDONED BY GOVERNMENT FINDING LIFE TOUGH

(16 Nov 1997) Spanish/Nat

Hundreds of Peruvian terrorism prisoners pardoned by the government are finding life tough on the outside.

The government of President Alberto Fujimori has freed over 200 people it admits were unfairly convicted by military courts on treason and terrorism charges.

Despite the government's move, the former prisoners still carry the stigma of conviction.

This shantytown on the outskirts of the Peruvian capital is home to men and women who spent years in jail despite their innocence.

Scores of Peruvians were wrongly convicted of treason and terrorism by the government's military courts in the early 1990s.

Since 1996, the government has freed 226 prisoners it admits were unfairly convicted.

The innocent victims were granted official pardons.

But many believe the experience has left them scarred for life.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"There was a mistake. This has been called "indult" (legal term for pardon) because that was the prevailing political term, although it should've been called acquittal. This is going to bring a series of inconveniences, because the person who has been pardoned is innocent, but it comes out with criminal antecedents of terrorism or treason which generates a series of problems."
SUPER CAPTION: Ernesto de la Jara, Subdirector, Legal Defence Institute

That's the case of Antonia Alfaro - a shop owner who served four years of a life sentence for a crime she says she did not commit.

Like hundreds of other terrorism prisoners pardoned in the past year, Alfaro finds life tough on the outside.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
'Life has not been easy. It's not easy to come back and rebuild a household, like before.'
SUPER CAPTION: Antonia Alfaro, ex-prisoner

Juan Carlos and Pelagia Chuchon share the same experience.

The couple served four years in prison on charges of treason.

They now carry the stigma of conviction, facing trouble finding jobs and trying to rebuild their broken lives.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Our situation gets worse everyday. It's been one year of freedom, but right now my husband is unemployed and I don't work. There are no jobs and we feel people's rejection. When people haven't gone through anything like this they don't believe you, they think you're somehow guilty. People don't trust you."
SUPER CAPTION: Pelagia de Chuchon, ex-prisoner

Suspicion follows the pardoned prisoners everywhere - making it difficult for them to make a living or reintegrate into their communities.

The ex-prisoners receive no compensation and the government has left the conviction on their criminal records.

Many are now calling for the authorities to give them more than just an apology.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"If for each case they (government) give them 10 or 15-thousand dollars - since they're very poor people - that will really help them rebuild their lives. We believe that the government should establish a norm for an important economic reparation.'
SUPER CAPTION: Ernesto de la Jara, Subdirector Legal Defence Institute

Others give the government credit for trying to mend the errors of the past.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"I consider that it is an act of courage from the government. Because it's much easier to say: 'No we never made a mistake and that's it.' But a government that's able to say: 'Yes we made a mistake' is a government with honour and which we should take seriously."
SUPER CAPTION: Reverend Hubert Lansiers, Representative Prison Review Board

Human rights groups estimate that of the 3-thousand-900 (3,900) people jailed on terrorism-related charges, 600 are innocent.



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