CSW calls on Peru to account for Putis massacre

Rev Stuart Windsor, CSW’s National Director said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with survivors and the families of the Putis massacre victims as they remember their loved ones at this time.

"They are still waiting for justice and official recognition of the human rights violations that took place.

“We call on the Peruvian Government to bring each and every military official responsible to account for their deeds on that tragic day.”

A formal burial ceremony was held on Saturday for the 123 people who were brutally gunned down in Putis by the Peruvian military almost 25 years ago. CSW said many of the murdered men, women and children were evangelical Christians from the Assemblies of God Church.

“The victims were shot dead after members of the Peruvian military had ordered locals to dig shallow pools, ostensibly for trout-farming purposes. Once they had finished, soldiers lined up members of the community, opened fire on them, and used the pools to bury their bodies," CSW stated.

The motive for the murders is still unclear, although survivors say the soldiers had accused villagers of sympathising with the Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla group that terrorised the country throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The military had originally agreed to protect the indigenous people from this group.

The Peruvian Ministry of Defence is still refusing to hand over the names of the officials responsible for the Putis killings to state prosecutors seeking justice for the community.

The exhumation of the mass grave was carried out under the observation of Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s (CSW’s) Peruvian partner agency, Peace and Hope. Fifteen of the recovered remains were those of children and infants, CSW said. The remains were sent to laboratories in the US for DNA analysis, and those that could be identified have been returned to their surviving relatives.

Memorial ceremonies were held on Friday in the regional capital of Ayacucho, and on Saturday in the district capital of Huanta.

CSW, a Christian human rights non-governmental organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all said the relatives of the victims are “still waiting for justice and official recognition of the human rights violations that took place”.