Overview
- Fernando Rospigliosi, the president of Congress, introduced Bill 14337 on Wednesday to add a crimes-against-humanity chapter to Peru’s Penal Code using Rome Statute language.
- The draft lays out strict elements for a “generalized” or “systematic” attack on civilians and sets prison terms of 15 to 30 years for those crimes.
- A clause disclosed Thursday would apply the new rules to cases already in progress and to convictions under review, which experts say could reopen settled verdicts.
- Rospigliosi said Peru has had no crimes against humanity and accused some judges of illegal rulings, adding that several decisions were reported to the National Board of Justice.
- Human-rights lawyers from IDL and APRODEH say the text would tie judges’ hands on past abuses and could function as a shield in legacy cases from the 1980s and 1990s, while the proposal now awaits committee debate in Congress.