Lawyers lament ‘legal persecution’ of journalists investigating Peru group

ROME – Peruvian lawyers have explained how the country’s criminal justice system works, and how it is being used to target journalists reporting on the scandal-plagued Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV).

Founded in 1971 by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari, the SCV at its height was one of the most influential and prestigious ecclesial groups in Latin America, but for the past decade has been shrouded in scandals surrounding allegations of abuse and financial corruption, including the sexual abuse of minors and international money laundering, against Figari and other top members.

Journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz, who uncovered the scandals and have continued to investigate the group, have faced a consistent stream of criminal complaints against them by individuals and organizations with ties to the SCV for charges such as defamation and illicit enrichment.

Speaking to Crux, Peruvian journalist Carlos Rivera spoke of the onslaught of legal complaints against the journalists, saying, “I have no doubt that these criminal proceedings were part of a campaign of, let’s call it, legal demolition, of legal persecution, against journalists.”

“If it had happened on one occasion, one could say, hey, that was a problem with one judge, but we realized that this was happening on several occasions,” he said.

Rivera represented Salinas in a 2018 criminal defamation suit against him filed by the then-archbishop of Piura, Jose Antonio Eguren, who is among 15 members of the SCV, including Figari himself, who have been expelled from the group in recent weeks as part of an ongoing Vatican investigation.

RELATED: Pope accepts resignation of Peru bishop linked to scandal-plagued group

Rivera and fellow Peruvian lawyer Jose Ugaz explained to Crux how Peru’s penal system works, and how it is possible for private citizens to file criminal complaints

The criminal justice system in Peru is composed fundamentally by the Attorney General’s office, or the Public Prosecutor, and the Judicial branch consisting of a swath of specialized criminal, civil and constitutional judges, Rivera said.

In Peru, “the Attorney General’s Office here in Peru has a very specific organization,” Rivera said, noting that there are prosecutors who specialize in various types of crimes, such as common petty crimes, organized crime, terrorism, corruption and money laundering.

Generally speaking, Rivera said prosecutors are the ones responsible for opening an criminal investigation into an individual or individuals based on information they receive about a potential crime.

Ugaz in his comments to Crux said, “Anyone can file a complaint in Peru. All that is needed for what is called a criminal report to be produced so that any citizen can go to the Prosecutor’s Office and file a complaint, but it is up to the prosecutor to evaluate the facts that are reported to him and decide whether or not to open an investigation.”

“One files a complaint and the Prosecutor’s Office evaluates what is called the simple initial suspicion. If the prosecutor considers that the facts that have been reported meet the standard that leads to a simple initial suspicion, he can open the investigation,” he said.

Rivera said that once a prosecutor decides to open a preliminary investigation, they must determine who will conduct the inquiry and within what timeframe. Once that investigation has concluded, the prosecutor will then determine whether to file a complaint before the judiciary.

Once at the judicial stage, Rivera said there is a presentation of evidence, a hearing attended by the prosecutor and lawyer of the defendant to discuss the allegations, and finally, a decision on whether it will be advanced to a criminal trial.

If this is the decision, Rivera said an indictment is issued and a public trial is then held and when a verdict is reached, the defendants, should they be found guilty, have the right to an appeal.

“Our criminal system allows ordinary people, ordinary citizens, to file complaints even when they are not the ones directly aggrieved, which is more or less the case with the complaints that have been filed against Paola Ugaz and Pedro Salinas,” he said.

Most of the legal complaints against Salinas and Ugaz have been for defamation, though more recent complaints have involved allegations of money laundering and illicit enrichment – crimes the SCV itself has been accused of.

Rivera explained that in Peruvian law, defamation is considered a criminal offense, and is the only case in which a prosecutor is not involved, meaning private citizens can submit a complaint directly to a judge.

“That is the only case in which the Public Prosecutor’s Office does not intervene. It is considered a crime against a very particular right of people, that is, the right to honor, to a good name,” Rivera said.

What this means in practice, he said, is that “if I defame you, in those cases you can go and file your complaint before a criminal judge. The prosecutor’s office does not intervene. You act as a prosecutor.”

“That is the only case, the only type of crime” in which this is allowed, he said.

It is then up to the judge to evaluate the complaint and either launch criminal proceedings or reject the complaint, he said.

“Unfortunately, in the case of the journalists we are referring to, the prosecutor’s office has always opened the investigations,” Rivera said, saying they have done so “even though there was no evidence.”

Rivera said this is likely the result of political or institutional influence “that some power groups have over the Judiciary that ends up making the judges, who are supposed to make impartial, independent decisions, make decisions that benefit the person who complains simply as a consequence of political pressure.”

“That is sadly a common fact in Peru,” he said, saying the SCV has a lot of power in Peru, and he personally witnessed this during the 2018 case involving Salinas and Eguren.

In that case, which was tried in Piura, “it was obvious that we were fighting against one of the most powerful people in that city. That is why, without any evidence, they convicted Pedro Salinas,” he said.

After Salinas’s guilty verdict Eguren dropped the complaint in the wake of broad political and ecclesial backlash, and he also withdrew a similar complaint against Paola Ugaz.

Ugaz herself has continued to receive criminal complaints from individuals and organizations with ties to the SCV, including a recent case for illicit enrichment which Rivera said has no legal standing, but in which the judge ordered the lifting of the secrecy of her communications, potentially exposing her sources.

RELATED: Watchdog group decries order to open phone records of Peruvian journalist

In his comments to Crux, Jose Ugaz, who represented a group of SCV victims who attempted to bring a criminal suit against various SCV members that was eventually archived, said that in Ugaz’s case, “It is clear to me that there has been a systematic campaign to damage her image based on these false accusations that have no semblance of truth.”

“The fact that the decision to lift banking secrecy or the secrecy of communications has been made seems disproportionate to me,” he said, saying, “this apparently, as far as I know, has been done with judicial authorization, which is what the law requires.”

“If there is judicial authorization, the prosecutor will have to explain why they requested this lifting and if they do not have a reasonable explanation, from my point of view, they could even be sanctioned for having abused his power,” he said.

Salinas himself also received an Oct. 23 criminal complaint for aggravated collusion in an alleged political plot while running a communications organization in 2017 in which his accusers, who have ties to the SCV, ask for a hefty fine and between 6-15 years in prison.

Rivera said he believes the allegations against Salinas and Ugaz are false, and amount to “a campaign against the journalists who were involved in the investigation” of the SCV.

Similarly, Ugaz said that “When the judicial system is used to persecute enemies by accusing them of false accusations, this is done a lot in all countries in the world, using false accusations of corruption, money laundering, etc., to try to discredit enemies.”

Though he does not believe the situation in Peru is among the worst, Ugaz said of the SCV, “Clearly in their case they have used it very forcefully against Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz.”

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen