SOLIDARITY STATEMENT FROM GERMANY FOR MRTA PRISONERS

The relatives of the prisoners from the RAF

[versione italiana]

Since December 16, 1996, political prisoners from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) in Miguel Castro Castro Prison in Peru have been on an unlimited hunger strike.

We, relatives of the RAF prisoners in Germany, support the demands of these prisoners:
- an end to isolation detention and the discriminatory treatment handed down against C. Victor Polay Campos and other MRTA leaders, and for these people to be shown in public so that their condition may be seen, and that they be transferred to civilian prisons;
- the immediate repeal of Anti-Terror Law Nr. 25475, which mandates "faceless" civilian and military judges and super-fast trials with no right to a defense;
- the immediate repeal of the special detention conditions, which are in violation of recognized national and international fundamental human rights, and for international humanitarian norms to be adhered to;
- for humane treatment of prisoners, and improved prison conditions (access to defense counsel, better food, health care, and jobs).

We know what the political prisoners in Peru are experiencing. We know that their lives are in danger, that back in 1986 hundreds of political prisoners were murdered in a single day, and that under the Fujimori government the prison conditions for political prisoners have become increasingly brutal.

Victor Polay Campos, like other political prisoners, is jailed in a prison located within a navy base, and his cell is 8m underground. He is kept in total isolation 24 hours a day. Some prisons in Peru are located at elevations of 3,000 or 4,000 metres, where prisoners are kept in cells with no heat and no glass over the windows. Even in the summer, the temperature in these places never goes above 12-15 degrees Celsius. Usually, temperatures are below zero.
Prisoners' food is contaminated with rat feces and other garbage; there is no medical treatment for prisoners; visits total just 30 minutes every month...

We fear for the lives of the political prisoners in Peru. Many are seriously ill, and some have already died from the inhumane prison conditions.
From our experience in the struggle for the lives and freedom of our family members, the prisoners from the RAF, we know what it's like to be confronted with a state that seeks to destroy the identities and lives of the prisoners.
We feel for the prisoners and their families. We know that the only adequate demand for the lives of the prisoners is that they be set free.
That is also the goal of the guerrilla commando of the MRTA which has taken over the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru.

We, the family members of the RAF prisoners, support the demand:
Freedom for all MRTA prisoners, and all those accused of membership in the MRTA!
Freedom For All Political Prisoners Across The World!

January 10, 1997

Arm The Spirit P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A Toronto, Ontario M5W 1P7 Canada
E-mail: ats@etext.org
WWW: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats
MRTA Solidarity Page: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/mrta.htm
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/Politics/Arm.The.Spirit
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l

[torna all'inizio della pagina]