Communication No. 540/1993 Submitted by: Basilio Laureano Atachahua on behalf of his granddaughther [represented by counsel] Alleged victim: Rosario Celis Laureano State party: Peru Declared admissible: 4 July 1994 (fifty-first session) Date of adoption of Views: 25 March 1996 (fifty-sixth session) Subject matter: Kidnapping disappearance of a minor. and 2.2 On 23 June 1992, Ana R. Celis Laureano was detained by the military, on the ground of suspected collaboration with the Shining Path movement. For 16 days, she was held at the military base in Ambar (set up in the meantime). For the first eight days, her mother was allowed to visit her; for the remaining eight days, she allegedly was kept incommunicado. Upon inquiry about her whereabouts, Ana's mother was told that she had been transferred. The family then requested the provincial prosecutor of Huacho (Fiscal Provincial de la Primera Fiscalía de HuauraHuacho) to help them locating Ana. After ascertaining that she was still detained at Ambar, the prosecutor ordered the military to transfer her to Huacho and to hand her over to the special police of the National Directorate against Terrorism (Dirección Nacional Contra el Terrorismo DINCOTE). subsequent Procedural issues: Cases pending before another human rights mechanism. Substantive issues: Enforced disappearance and right to life - Cruel and inhuman treatment Arbitrary arrest and detention - Protection of minor Articles of the Covenant: 2 (1) and (3), 6 (1), 7, 9, 10 (1), and 24 (1) Article of the Optional Protocol and Rules of procedure: 5, paragraph 2 (a) and (b) Finding: Violation [articles 6, paragraph 1; 7; 9, paragraph 1, all juncto article 2, paragraph 1; and 24, paragraph 1] 1. The author of the communication is Basilio Laureano Atachahua, a Peruvian citizen born in 1920. He submits the communication on behalf of his granddaughter, Ana Rosario Celis Laureano, a Peruvian citizen born in 1975. Her current whereabouts are unknown. The author claims that his granddaughter is a victim of violations by Peru of articles 2, paragraphs 1 and 3; 6, paragraph 1; 7; 9; 10, paragraph 1; and 24, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He is represented by counsel. 2.3 During the transfer to Huacho, the truck in which Ana Celis Laureano was transported was involved in an accident. As she suffered from a fractured hip, she was brought to the local quarters of the Policía Nacional del Peru (PNP), where she was held from 11 July to 5 August 1992. On 5 August, a judge on the civil court of Huacho (Primer Juzgado Civil de Huaura-Huacho) ordered her release on the ground that she was a minor. He appointed the author as her legal guardian and ordered them not to leave Huacho, pending investigations into the charges against her. The facts as presented by the author 2.4 On 13 August 1992, at approximately 1 a.m., Ms. Laureano was abducted from the house where she and the author were staying. The author testified that two of the kidnappers entered the building via the roof, while the others entered through the front door. The men were masked, but the author observed that one of them wore a military uniform, and that there were other characteristics, e.g., the type of their firearms and the make of the van into which his granddaughter was pulled, which indicated that the kidnappers belonged to the military and/or special police forces. 2.1 The author, a farmer, lives with his family in the district of Ambar, Province of Huaura, Peru. In March 1992, his granddaughter, then 16 years old, was abducted by unknown armed men, presumably guerrillas of the Shining Path movement (Sendiero Luminoso). She returned six days later and told the author that the guerrillas had threatened to kill her if she refused to join them, that she was forced to carry their baggage and to cook for them, but that she had finally been able to escape. In May 1992, she was once again forced by the guerrillas to accompany them; after a shoot-out between a unit of the Peruvian Army and the guerrillas, she again escaped. The author did not denounce these events to the authorities, firstly because he feared reprisals from the guerrilla group, and secondly because, at the time, the regular army was not yet stationed in the Ambar District. 2.5 On 19 August 1992, the author filed a formal complaint with the Prosecutor of Huacho. The latter, together with members of a local human rights group, helped the author to inquire with the military and police authorities in Huaura province, to no avail. 63