Ten retired Peruvian soldiers were convicted in June of raping nine women while serving at the Manta and Vilca military base in the Andes mountains during the country’s conflict in the 1980s. The men each received sentences of between six and 12 years for crimes against “good manners” and “sexual liberty” under the Peruvian criminal code, and for crimes against humanity under international criminal law. This is a historic conviction both for Peru and the world. The rapes were committed at the height of the government’s fight against a Maoist rebel group called the Shining Path. The Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) concluded in 2003 that sexual violence was widespread and particularly systemic on the part of the Peruvian military. Testimonies to the TRC and subsequent research show that sexual violence was perpetrated by violent men whose actions were tolerated and often encouraged by superiors in the military hierarchy. The recent sentencing is reflective of this. The judges carefully outlined why they considered the acts to be crimes against humanity and sentenced both the direct perpetrators and the commander in charge of the military base. The trial was mired in controversy and prejudice against the claimants, who are all indigenous Quechua-speaking women from the rural Andes. The case was mis-trialled in 2018 after one of the judges was implicated in a political corruption scandal and had to be restarted in 2019. The victims have been captive in these prolonged and difficult proceedings for far too long. Pursuing justice for conflict-related sexual violence continues to be complex globally. The indigenous population of Peru has long been ignored and neglected by the state, and racist and sexist prejudice continues to this day. The decision came 12 days before a Congressional committee approved an “impunity law” that grants amnesty to all Peruvians who committed human rights violations before July 1, 2002, making it impossible to bring further cases related to gross violations of human rights committed during the conflict to justice. The law comes from a corrupt government with very little legitimacy. The battle for justice in Peru is not yet over.
William Calley, the only American convicted for the Vietnam War My Lai massacre, has died at the age of 80. The My Lai massacre occurred on March 16, 1968, when Calley's brigade entered the village of My Lai based on faulty intelligence. Calley ordered soldiers to kill villagers even though they had found no evidence of enemy combatants. The massacre involved the torture, rape, and slaughter of hundreds of innocent Vietnamese. Calley was convicted of murdering 22 non-combatants and sentenced to hard labor for life, but his sentence was commuted by President Richard Nixon and he was released after serving three years of house arrest. Calley later apologized for his role in the massacre. [66cffaf9]