One month after a top Peruvian court dealt a major blow to those seeking justice for journalists killed during the country’s internal conflict, a criminal court has sentenced Vladimiro Montesinos—one of the most powerful figures in Peru during the 1990s—for the murder of a journalist.
Montesinos—former advisor to President Alberto Fujimori and de facto head of the National Intelligence Service (SIN, for its Spanish initials)—was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the crime of aggravated homicide, having been found responsible for sending letter bombs to individuals deemed hostile to the Fujimori regime. The case under trial included the murders of journalist Melissa Alfaro and citizen Víctor Hugo Ruiz León in 1991.
Alfaro, who was news editor for the weekly Cambio, opened one of these packages containing explosives, which was addressed to the magazine’s director, Carlos Arroyo.
“I am just now beginning to process this momentous occasion—one that was years in the making, but which finally came to pass,” Norma Méndez, Alfaro’s mother, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) the day after the verdict was announced. “This conviction also proves that this was a State policy—one adopted at the time by Alberto Fujimori, who is not named in the proceedings because he passed away while this trial was getting underway.”
Montesinos was also found guilty of attempted aggravated homicide against human rights defender Augusto Zúñiga Paz, then-parliamentarian Ricardo Letts Colmenares and journalist Carlos Arroyo.
In the first-instance ruling, however, former Colonel Víctor Penas—accused of being the material perpetrator—was acquitted.
“We will appeal. Because the envelopes didn’t make themselves, nor did they walk to the victims on their own,” Méndez said.
Peruvian journalist Melissa Alfaro. (Photo: Melissa's family courtesy)
Human rights organizations and press associations were satisfied with the ruling, particularly given the current regressions that Peru is seeing in terms of justice.
“This ruling is, above all, an act of justice for the family members of journalist Alfaro,” Carlos Rivera, an attorney for the Institute for Legal Defense (IDL), told LJR. “But furthermore, it constitutes a message of the struggle against impunity at a time when political power has carried out every manner of political and legislative act precisely to ensure that these types of horrendous crimes—perpetrated from positions of power—go unpunished.”
Indeed, exactly one month prior to this ruling—on Feb. 20—the country's Constitutional Court overturned the conviction of retired military officer and former minister Daniel Urresti, who had been sentenced in 2023 to 12 years in prison for the murder of journalist Hugo Bustíos.
According to the Peruvian justice system, Bustíos was murdered by a military patrol in November 1988 in Ayacucho—one of the areas most severely affected by the internal conflict. Urresti was serving as intelligence chief at the base in the province of Huanta, Ayacucho.
His court case had advanced the furthest regarding crimes against journalists committed during the internal conflict. The entire criminal apparatus had been convicted.
However, in February, the Constitutional Court decided to apply Law 32.107, which establishes that offenses cannot be classified as crimes against humanity if they occurred prior to 2002. By taking into account the so-called “Impunity Law,” the Court ruled that the statute of limitations for Bustíos’ murder had already run out at the time of the conviction, as explained by Rivera, who is also the Bustíos family’s attorney.
The application of Law 32.107 was also a matter of concern in the Alfaro case, as it had been requested by Montesinos' defense; however, a chamber of the National Superior Court ruled the law could not be applied.
“This is a very important message from the justice system vis-à-vis political power—and Congress in particular—because, despite Law 32.107, the court declared the statute of limitations exception filed by Vladimiro Montesinos’ defense to be unfounded,” Rivera said.
The National Association of Peruvian Journalists (ANP, for its Spanish initials)—an organization that has also supported the families of journalists who were victims during the internal conflict—expressed its satisfaction with the decision.
“It is a key step toward achieving complete justice, but there is still work to be done,” Zuliana Lainez, president of the ANP, told LJR. “We had serious doubts that this would happen, particularly because we are currently in a period of regression regarding justice and human rights—a time when statutes of limitations are being fabricated to apply to events that occurred between 1980 and 2000.”
Lainez, however, said that Penas' acquittal leaves many doubts. She said that the ANP is awaiting notification of the judgment in order to understand the legal grounds for the acquittal.
Given that this is a first-instance ruling, Lainez knows that Montesinos' defense will appeal; therefore, they will closely monitor this appeal, as well as the appeal regarding the acquittal of former Colonel Penas.
“But this, at least, is a positive sign toward achieving complete justice,” Lainez said. “It is a good first step—one that is at least hopeful—in a context of regressions.”
This article was translated with the assistance of AI and was reviewed by Teresa Mioli.
