Flawed Justice in Peru

New York Times -- 10 January 2003

by Letter to the editor


To the Editor:

Re "Peru Court Throws Out Stringent Antiterror Laws" (news article, Jan. 4):

As a lawyer representing Lori Berenson throughout her ordeal of a military trial, civilian "retrial" and her current appeal to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, I wish to state that nobody should believe that the Constitutional Court's ruling invalidating the military trials of people accused of terrorism goes nearly far enough in reforming a flawed legal system.

The procedures used in civilian trials violate due process as well. The court has already condemned these procedures, and yet Ms. Berenson was tried using them after her military conviction was invalidated.

This new ruling does not put Peru's antiterrorism laws in compliance with international standards of due process.

THOMAS H. NOOTER
New York, Jan. 7, 2003