Those Wanted. The Other Innocents. Analysis and Proposals

One of the most serious and complex consequences of the political violence experienced by Peru is, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the problem of the thousands of people against whom arrest warrants were issued indiscriminately and irregularly at various points in time. This is what is known as the problem of those sought for terrorism. Certainly, the body of emergency criminal legislation maintained from the outset a strong tendency to grant greater powers to the police for combating terrorism, but it was Legislative Decree 25475 (the anti-terrorism law), issued a few days after the April 1992 coup d'état, that broke the existing legal framework and imposed new conditions for prosecuting this crime. As we know, this had dramatic consequences not only for the rule of law, but above all for innocent citizens — real people of flesh and blood — who suffered the blows and arbitrariness of legislation designed to disregard and transgress fundamental rights by eliminating any form of judicial oversight over police conduct. Indeed, the phenomenon of innocent people in prison is the clearest consequence of this. (Excerpt from the preface).