Peru Military Resists Civilian Trials

[Judi Lynn]

Peru Military Resists Civilian Trials
Thursday July 7, 2005 7:31 AM

By RICK VECCHIO
Associated Press Writer

LIMA, Peru (AP) - For the first time in Peru's history, civilian courts are calling scores of military men to account for the torture and murder of civilians, including 118 ordered detained this week for one of the worst massacres during the height of the Shining Path insurgency.

But human rights advocates and a top court official complain that police are not carrying out arrest orders - a reflection of the country's long domination by the armed forces, even under democratic regimes.

Judge Pablo Talavera, president of Peru's national criminal court, told The Associated Press that national police assigned to the judiciary were dragging their feet in making court-ordered arrests of military personnel accused of human rights violations.
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More than half of Peru's governments during its 184-year history have come about as a result of military coups. A leftist military dictatorship ruled the country from 1968 to 1980, the last time the armed forces were in charge.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5123773,00.html