Start of the oral trial in Ayacucho for the Uchuraccay Massacre
Beginning of the oral trial in Ayacucho against three peasants accused of the massacre of journalists in Uchuraccay. The trial was characterized by serious communication problems due to the language barrier between the Quechua-speaking defendants and the judges.
On September 28, 1984, the oral trial of the Uchuraccay trial began with great expectation in the courtroom of the Superior Court of Ayacucho. The only three defendants present were the detained peasants Dionisio Morales Pérez, Mariano Ccasani Gonzáles and Simeón Auccatoma Quispe, who were Quechua speakers and required interpreters throughout the trial. The trial was held following the formulation of the prosecutor's indictment on August 14, 1984, in which the Public Prosecutor's Office requested a minimum prison sentence of 25 years for the crime of multiple homicide. The lack of adequate communication between the members of the courtroom and the defendants was one of the major difficulties throughout the trial, with the interpreters repeatedly pointing out the difficulty of translating the questions asked into Quechua.