SUPREME COURT DECIDES THAT ANTAURO HUMALA WILL BE

UNCLAS LIMA 004788

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINS KJUS PE
SUBJECT: SUPREME COURT DECIDES THAT ANTAURO HUMALA WILL BE
TRIED IN LIMA

REF: A. LIMA 4130

B. LIMA 12


1. Peru's Supreme Court, on 11/7, decided that
Ethno-Cacerist leader Antauro Humala and 159 of his followers
will stand trial in Lima for their participation in the
January 2005 armed rebellion in Andahuaylas that resulted in
the death of four policemen (Ref B). The Court reversed its
original ruling that the trial should take place in
Andahuaylas, a city of 30,000 inhabitants located in the high
Andes about 500 kilometers south-east of Lima, as that was
where the alleged criminal acts took place (Ref A). The
Court reconsidered its ruling after the Interior Ministry
requested a change of venue, asserting that the penal and
court facilities in Andahuaylas had neither the
infrastructure nor sufficient personnel to cope with an
undertaking of this size.


2. The Supreme Court found that security conditions in
Andahuaylas were limited, due to the sparse local security
force (8 police officers and 15 prison guards),and to the
presumed presence of "political sympathizers" of the accused,
who could "possibly overcome the control capabilities of the
authorities." Consequently, the Court concluded, the
Interior Ministry's petition for a change of venue met the
Criminal Procedure Code's criteria of the existence of
circumstances that would threaten "the normal development and
security of the trial." The Court's decision to switch the
venue to Lima was widely hailed as having averted the
potentially dangerous and volatile situation that a trial in
Andahuaylas would have presented.
STRUBLE