Peru's president signs military crimes amnesty bill into law
The law benefits uniformed personnel on trial but not yet convicted of crimes committed during fighting between state forces and the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebel groups, in which 70,000 people were killed, according to official data.
About 20,000 people remain listed as "disappeared."
It also provides for the release of anyone convicted who is now over the age of 70.
"This law is quite simply a betrayal of Peruvian victims," said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
"It undermines decades of efforts to ensure accountability for atrocities and weakens the country's rule of law even further."
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) had said Peru must "immediately suspend" approval of the law or -- if it was enacted -- refrain from applying it while the court looks into how the amnesty would affect victims' rights.
A report by UN experts last month urged Boluarte's government to veto the law, arguing Peru "has a duty to investigate, prosecute and punish gross human rights violations and crimes under international law committed during the conflict."
The new law could affect 156 cases that have been decided and more than 600 others still underway over crimes committed during that 20-year span, those experts said.
Boluarte -- whose approval rating is at an all-time low and whose term ends in July 2026 -- has rejected all criticism of the amnesty.
In August 2024, Peru adopted a statute of limitations for crimes against humanity committed before 2002, effectively shutting down hundreds of investigations into alleged crimes committed during the fighting.
The initiative benefited late president Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for atrocities -- including the massacre of civilians by the army -- but released from prison in 2023 on humanitarian grounds. He died in September 2024.
It also helped 600 prosecuted military personnel.
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