Hermes Rivera Guerrero, Radio Oriental
Imprisoned: May 8, 1992

Rivera, a reporter for Radio Oriental, in the province of Jaén in the Andean department of Cajamarca, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on May 13, 1994, for alleged terrorist activity. In his defense, Rivera said policeman Idelfonso Ugarte Valdivia arrested him arbitrarily on May 8, 1992, and brought the false charges against him. Rivera’s wife, Dilsia Miranda, also accused the policeman of demanding $500 for the release of her husband and making uninvited sexual advances. When she refused to cooperate, Miranda said, Ugarte apparently falsified evidence to show Rivera’s participation in terrorist attacks in the area. On January 26, 1995, Rivera, who was being held at the Picsi prison in the city of Chiclayo, sewed his mouth closed with thread and began a hunger strike in protest of the ratification of his sentence. He ended his hunger strike three weeks later. On March 7, his defense lawyer presented an appeal for review of his case before the Supreme Court of Peru. On September 5, 1995, the Supreme Court revoked the 20-year prison sentence and ordered a retrial.
    CPJ sent a letter of inquiry on December 22, but Peruvian authorities did not provide any information on Rivera’s legal status.

Augusto Ernesto Llosa Giraldo,
El Casmeno, Radio Casma
Imprisoned: February 14, 1995

Llosa, editor in chief of the newspaper El Casmeno and a reporter with Radio Casma, was arrested in the northern city of Casma and charged with involvement in a 1986 terrorist incident in Cuzco, where he was staying in a hotel at the time. Police raided his home and confiscated several documents, including National Association of Journalists (ANP) posters urging the release of several detained journalists, and an issue of ANP’s newsletter. A secret tribunal of the Fifth Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Cuzco convicted him of involvement in the terrorist incident, and on August 10, 1996, he was sentenced to six years in prison. Three weeks after the verdict, he was unexpectedly transferred to the maximum security Yanamayo prison. He is the only journalist among the inmates, most of whom are serving life sentences. Llosa requested the nullification of the sentence before the Surpeme Court of Peru, which was accepted.
    On June 30, a new verdict was reached, and Llosa was sentenced to five years. Llosa again requested the sentence be nullified. CPJ did not receive a reply to the letter it sent on December 22, inquiring about Llosa’s legal status.

Pedro Carranza Ugaz, Radio Oriental
Imprisoned: November 29, 1993

Carranza, a correspondent with Radio Oriental de Jaén in Cajamarca, was detained on November 29, 1993, and sentenced on November 7, 1994, to 20 years in prison on the charges of being a member of the terrorist group Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru (MRTA). He is currently being held in the Picsi prison in Chiclayo. Carranza lived in Moyabamba.
    In 1997, the Oversight Commission (Comisión de Indultos) is currently reviewing the case. The Oversight Commission was created by the government of Alberto Fujimori to examine cases of those convicted under Peru’s anti-terrorism laws.