Legislative Decree No. 046 on Terrorism
First Peruvian legal norm that typified and sanctioned the crime of terrorism, establishing rules for the preliminary investigation. In spite of seeking precision, the definition turned out to be generic and pluriofensive, including also the crime of illicit terrorist association.
Legislative Decree No. 046 was the first legal norm that regulated the classification and punishment of the crime of terrorism in Peru, establishing also basic rules for the development of the preliminary investigation. Although in its recitals it explicitly stated the need to describe the crime of terrorism in a precise and unequivocal manner in order to safeguard a liberal criminal law, the typification determined a definitive distancing from those requirements. The norm defined terrorism in a generic manner by referring to other crimes already considered in the criminal law, making it a pluriofensive crime. Article 5 of the decree regulated for the first time the crime of unlawful terrorist association, punishing the mere membership of an organization of three or more persons who use terrorism to achieve their goals.