Inter-American Commission on Human Rights decides that case of young homosexual who was tortured by police in Trujillo is admissible.

 Luis Alberto Rojas was tortured and sexually assaulted in 2008 by police officers from the Ascope district in Trujillo. The Peruvian investigation into the allegation was closed.

 Promsex, the Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos and REDRESS, the rights organizations who are supporting the case, welcome this important step of the IACHR which will help ensure that justice is served.

On 25 November, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights announced that the case of Luis Alberto Rojas Marín vs. Peru is admissible, which allows the case now to be examined on the merits. Luis Alberto Rojas is a young gay man who was stripped, tortured and sexually abused in 2008 by police officers from the Precinct of the District of Ascope in Trujillo, where he had been detained arbitrarily, just because of being gay.

Luis Alberto denounced these serious crimes committed against him but the Peruvian justice system closed the case. In accordance with the official notification that we received, the Inter-American Commission concluded that Luis Alberto supplied sufficient evidence for his case to be considered admissible before this international human rights body, indicating that it is competent to proceed to decide the petition filed by Luis Alberto Rojas on the merits.

Luis Alberto has alleged that the Peruvian government violated his most fundamental rights, which are enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights and the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture: the right to personal integrity, personal liberty, equality before the law, and protection of honour and dignity.

Luis Alberto Rojas has stated that the admission of his case “has filled me with hope of finding the truth and obtaining justice six years after the events.”

The human rights organisations note that in 2012, following a report submitted by them to the UN Committee Against Torture, the Committee said that the Peruvian State “should take effective measures to protect the LGBT community from attacks, abuse and arbitrary detention and ensure that all acts of violence are promptly, effectively and impartially investigated and prosecuted, perpetrators brought to justice and victims provided with redress.”

The human rights groups who are supporting his petition welcome this important step from the IACHR that this case does not go unpunished, which highlights that victims of hate crimes and the LGBTI community are not helpless. We also note that this is a significant step in the fight against sexual orientation discrimination in Perú and in the Americas which will encourage the State to take proactive steps so these acts do not continue to occur against these persons.

For more information, please contact:

– Promsex: Alberto Hidalgo 447-8668 anexo 116, Lima, Perú; [email protected]
– Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos: Víctor Manuel Alvarez Pérez, Perú; mob: 995711240
– Eva Sanchis, REDRESS Communications Officer, London: [email protected] and +44 (0)20 77931777.