Augusto Zúñiga-Paz †
Ludovic-Trarieux Prize Winner 1992
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Attorney in Lima, Augusto Zúñiga-Paz
was legal advisor to the independent Comisión de Derechos Humanos COMISEDH (Commission of Human
Rights) in Peru. As a lawyer, he was
representing the relatives of 22-year-old Ernest Rafael
Castillo-Páez, a university student
and teacher, whose abduction
and forced disappearance,
since October 1990, was allegedly instigated and organized by
agents of the Peruvian National Police. Before the Supreme Court, he complained of serious threats to his life and the President of
the Chamber, informed him that the Supreme Court had dispatched an official communication to the Minister of the Interior requesting protection and guarantees
for him. But that was never done.*
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On June
15, 1991, he received a manila envelope. It was postmarked as originating from the offices of
the Secretary to the President
of Peru. He opened the envelope, and saw that smoke was
issuing from it. He threw the envelope away from
him with his left hand and heard it detonate,
as a result of which he lost his
left arm, his eardrums were pierced,
and he suffered severe burns which
almost totally incapacitated his entire left thorax. According to the Defence Ministry, the package contained
plastic explosives only used
by Peru's Navy units specializing in demolitions. The Navy is the only institution to possess that explosive, and no loss or removal had been reported. A great power explosive had been used which can
only be handled
by specially trained
personnel.
To protect
his safety Augusto Zúñiga-Paz took refuge in Sweden with his
wife and his young son, but pursued his advocacy for human rights and his stuggle against
all " terrorisms ". He said
:
"They didn't
make me fear. They pulled out my arm but my will
is intact".
On April 8, 1992, he received, in Bordeaux, the second "Ludovic-Trarieux International Human
Rights Prize".
After he dedicated
much of his life denouncing human rights violations committed by
the security forces during
the internal armed conflict in Peru (1980-2000), and
to the fight against impunity, Augusto Zúñiga Paz, distinguished lawyer and human rights defender, passed away on 18 May 2005.
* In a judgment of November 3, 1997, the
Inter-american Court of Human
Rights, decided unanimously, that the State of Peru violated the rights recognized in Article 4,
5, 7 et 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights, in relation to Article 1(1) to the detriment of Ernesto Rafael Castillo-Páez and obliged the Peruvian state to repair the consequences of those violations.
