Peru Tries to Shield Fuji Forces Who Massacred Rebels Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Peru's Govt Tries to Shield Fuji Forces Who Massacred Rebels; Hostages from 1997 Japanese Embassy Siege Defend Tupac Amaru PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT DEFENDS SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF EXECUTING LEFTIST REBELS Lima, May 15 (RHC)-- The government of Peru has criticized arrest warrants issued for military officers believed to have summarily executed leftist rebels in a hostage standoff five years ago. A Peruvian judge, at the request of the district attorney's office, issued the warrants Tuesday against 12 high-ranking officers who took part in a raid to release more than 70 hostages held by 14 Tupac Amaru guerrillas at the Japanese embassy in Lima. An investigation indicates that seven of the rebels were executed after they had given up and laid down their weapons. The court has heard testimony from hostages and soldiers and last year exhumed the rebels' bodies, though no official results from the exhumations have been announced and no charges have been brought. District attorney Richard Saavedra said he wanted to be sure that the military officers did not try to leave the country during the on-going investigation. Peruvian Justice Minister Fernando Olivera and Defense Minister Aurelio Loret de Mola protested the arrest orders Tuesday after one of the officers, a retired general, was detained. * Reuters via The New York Times - May 16, 2002 EX-HOSTAGES SPEAK OUT IN DEFENSE OF PERU COMMANDOS by Reuters LIMA, Peru, May 15 (Reuters) - Controversy over a Peruvian judge's order to arrest 12 army officers who helped end a 1997 hostage siege heated up today when two men rescued by the commandos spoke out in their defense. The case could bear on Peru's bid to try a former president, Alberto K. Fujimori. In an inquiry into whether any of the 14 rebels killed were shot after surrendering, a judge ordered the arrest this week of 12 officers who helped end the 126-day siege at the Japanese ambassador's residence. "It's disconcerting that those who did their job and got us out are suddenly being made out to be the bad guys," a former admiral, Luis Giampietri, said of the officers in an interview with RPP radio. He was one of 72 hostages held for four months by members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Another hostage, Alfredo Panizzo, also defended the commandos, saying their only objective was to "free the hostages." The case is politically sensitive because if the killings are verified - and one rights group says the bodies of several rebels bear execution-style bullet holes - that could strengthen Peru's case in its fight to try Mr. Fujimori for crimes against humanity. Mr. Fujimori lives in exile in Japan. Investigators are trying to establish whether President Fujimori, who ordered the raid, also ordered the executions. The government, which has vowed not to meddle in the inquiry, said it welcomed the investigation but called the decision to arrest the officers excessive. Rights groups said the ruling must be respected. The siege at the ambassador's residence, where some of Peru's most prominent figures were among the 600 held originally, was one of the most high-profile events of the civil war, which killed 30,000. Mr. Fujimori, dismissed as president in November 2000 during a broad corruption scandal, denies the charges of corruption and human rights abuses against him. Commandos blasted their way into the residence from underground tunnels. But accusations, fueled by a Japanese hostage's testimony, swirled that commandos executed rebels. Last year rebels' bodies were exhumed from their pauper's graves, but there is no word yet on autopsies conducted on them. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytsa-05.17.02-11:06:03-12065