(IMA, Peru) — A Peruvian judge convicted retired army general and conservative lawmaker Daniel Urresti on Thursday and sentenced him to 12 years in prison for his role in the death of a journalist who chronicled human rights atrocities during Peru’s civil war 35 years ago.
Urresti, who has held positions as interior minister, congressman, presidential contender, and frequent political pundit, received a remarkable turnaround following the punishment, which supporters hailed as an overdue but crucial judgment in protecting accountability and press freedom in Peru.
Urresti was a military intelligence officer in November 1988 when journalist Hugo Bustos was machine-gunned and blown up with dynamite in a killing initially attributed to the communist militant group Shining Path. A colleague of Bustos’s survived the attack.
Military personnel was later convicted of ambushing a plainclothes sweep in Huanta province to prevent the journalist from documenting news of military crimes against residents in the predominantly indigenous territory. The local military commander was convicted of the attack in 2007, and he named Urresti as a member of that patrol in 2011.
Judge Juan Santillán handed down the punishment in Lima on Thursday while Urresti sat with his wife and children, whom he hugged before being arrested by police. Prosecutors had demanded 25 years in prison, but they were pleased with the verdict. Urresti stated that he would file an appeal.
Sharmel Bustos, the murdered journalist’s daughter and his late widow, told reporters that after 35 years, “I can finally tell my parents that they can rest in peace.”
In 2020-21, he was a member of Peru’s Congress.
The National Association of Journalists stated on social media that the verdict was reparation for both the Bustos family and journalism. “It is an important step towards justice and the defense of press freedom in Peru,” the organization said.
Urresti was a popular interior minister under President Ollanta Humala in 2014-15, having a reputation for being vocal and tough on crime. In 2020-21, he was a member of Peru’s Congress.
A second trial was required before the politician was convicted. He was initially acquitted in a judgment overturned in 2019 by the Supreme Court, which ordered a new trial, citing irregularities in the prior process.
The Huanta province seat, commonly known as Huanta, is located about 370 miles (600 km) southeast of Lima and was one of the most violent places during the 1980-2000 conflict between the Peruvian military and the Shining Path.
Herminia Oré, who represents the city’s disappeared and tortured residents, told an Associated Press journalist in 2015 that there was a paranoid environment in Huanta throughout the conflict. “A candle lit in your house at night was reason enough for the military to arrest you,” she explained.
The civil war killed an estimated 70,000 people, most living in rural areas where Quechua and Ashaninka were the prevalent languages.
SOURCE – (AP)
