Letter from Tom Nooter on Lori's case

-- 10 May 1996

by Tom Nooter

The last formal appeal (to a 5-Judge Military Supreme Court) has been denied.

It is now apparent that the evidence on which the courts rely changes at each stage of the proceedings, without any opportunity for Lori or her Peruvian attorney [Dr. Achahui] to see the new evidence or rebut it, and without any explanation for why evidence previously considered important is dropped.

In any event, the next step (after asking for a pro forma review by the same 5-judge court) is to apply to the Peruvian Supreme Court for a Writ of Ampara (like our habeas corpus). This will only be granted (ie. the Court will only consider looking at the case) if President Fujimori recommends that they review the case because he believes there has been an injustice. (This is not the formal procedure, but is based on past history). Therefore, all pressure possible should be put on Pres. Fujimori, through our Congress and State Department [see below for details], to have the case reviewed.

President Fujimori is making a private visit to the U.S. on or about May 20^th, and should be in both NYC and Washington DC. Hoepfully, he cares what we think of the Peruvian version of "due process."