Extradition sought for war criminal in US

Retired Peruvian Army Major Telmo Hurtado, a fugitive from justice who is living in the United States, could escape charges of crimes against humanity if authorities in both countries do not move ahead quickly on the requests for his preventive arrest and extradition. In a historic ruling on Sept. 23, Peru's Supreme Court authorized the extradition request for Hurtado, who years ago confessed to being responsible for the Aug. 14, 1985, massacre of 74 children, women and old men in the Andean highlands village of Accomarca, in the southeastern region of Ayacucho. "Among the presumed terrorists we captured were children ranging in age from one to eight years," say the military court records containing Hurtado's earlier testimony. The officer brought the children together with a group of women and old men in one of the houses in the village. "I ordered the assault group under my charge to open fire, while I threw a hand grenade inside [the house] with the intention of eliminating anyone who might be merely injured. I took the decision to eliminate the injured because there were too many of them," he added. "Yes, I set the house on fire and we stayed there until the fire consumed everything, and made sure that only ashes and blackened bones were left. Then we picked up the shell casings and any other evidence showing that we had been there," reads the document. The Supreme Court decision gives the green light to the first case of extradition of a member of the security forces accused of committing crimes against humanity during Peru's 1980-2000 "dirty war" against the Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated the political violence, the armed forces killed and "disappeared" more than 7,250 civilians who were not involved in the conflict, many of whom were indigenous people. No member of the armed forces has been brought to justice so far for the Accomarca massacre. Hurtado escaped Peru on Dec. 28, 2002, fleeing first to Colombia and then to the United States, just when authorities in Peru decided to reopen the investigation into the massacre. This year, Interpol (the international police agency) located Hurtado in Florida, where he lives with his family, and the court handling the case initiated extradition proceedings. After the 1985 massacre, the army court court martialed Hurtado, who thus eluded being tried by the civilian courts. His testimony on the massacre committed by the counterinsurgency platoon that he commanded as a second lieutenant was recorded during the court martial. It took the military justice system nearly seven years to sentence him. On Feb. 28, 1992, he was handed a six-year sentence. However, during those seven years, there is no evidence that Hurtado spent any time in prison. In fact, he was even promoted to lieutenant, then captain, and finally major. Nor did he serve any time after receiving the sentence. In 1995, as a result of pressure from victims' families, the military court summoned him once again to review his case. Hurtado admitted that he enjoyed protection from the army high command, and said the army brass had offered him economic compensation if he refused to speak to the press and declared that he had been acting on his own in Accomarca. "It is true that out of loyalty to the army, I was ordered not to provide information on what really happened, to prevent the case from taking on a greater dimension," said Hurtado, according to the court documents. He then revealed that the Accomarca slaughter of civilians reflected one of the army's strategies in the counterinsurgency fight against Sendero Luminoso. During the administration of President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), Hurtado received official protection, and was even decorated in 1992, 1994 and 1996. In 1995 he became one of the beneficiaries of an amnesty law decreed for those who committed human rights crimes in the context of the counterinsurgency war. The law was later revoked. When the independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established to clarify the events of the "dirty war," publicly reported the details of the Accomarca massacre, Hurtado fled to the United States. Hurtado is a graduate of the US Army School of the Americas (SOA), which is now based in Fort Benning, GA. The lawyer for the victims' families, Karin Ninaquispe, who kept the legal process going single-handedly, said that of the 74 villagers killed that day in Accomarca, 30 were children ranging in age from six months to 14 years, 20 were between the ages of 25 and 40, and the remaining 24 were between the ages of 55 and 80. Most of the adults were women, including an 80-year-old grandmother. "The court ruling is of far-reaching significance for justice and for the nation, because Hurtado is a military officer who plunged into mourning a poor, defenseless Andean community in a cruel and relentless manner. Now he will have to answer to the country for his crimes," said Ninaquispe. "It is now up to the Justice Ministry and the presidency of the council of ministers to issue a resolution authorizing the Foreign Ministry to request the extradition of the murderers," she explained. Although Peru has already requested that Hurtado be arrested and held in preventive detention for the purpose of eventual extradition, authorities in the United States have not yet responded. Meanwhile, the deadline for Peru to submit the formal extradition request is approaching. In the past, similar delays have enabled accused individuals being held under preventive arrest to regain their freedom. "If this case hasn't moved forward, that's because the state has defended and harbored those responsible for these crimes," said Ninaquispe. "I hope this will finally end, so that the families of the victims can have some peace."