From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 09 Nov 92 14:29 PST
Subject: El Sal: Immediate Action Needed
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700777:000:6445
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Nov  9 14:29:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: El Sal: Immediate Action Needed

/* Written  2:15 pm  Nov  9, 1992 by cuanes@igc.apc.org in igc:carnet.alerts */
                      CUANES Alert 11-9-92  (Alert 368)

                  ******* Immediate Action Requested ******


ADOLFO AGUILAR PAYES, 28 years old, is a political prisoner being held
in El Salvador's Mariona prison.  He was captured three years ago
without a judicial warrant and accused of "acts of terrorism" and the
deaths of two men, ARENA party members Gabriel Payes and Edgar Chacon.
The only evidence against Payes is an extra-judicial confession,
extracted under torture. HE IS NOW IN THE 27th DAY OF A HUNGER STRIKE
WHICH HE WILL CONTINUE UNTIL HE IS RELEASED FROM PRISON.

Adolfo Payes was captured by members of the Treasury Police on July 26,
1989 at the Franciscan Seminary in Planes de Rendero near San Salvador.
Adolfo was a student at the National University at the time, active in
peaceful campus protest.  Adolfo was visiting his brother, a Franciscan
seminarian at the seminary when members of the Treasury Police entered
the seminary grounds and forcibly arrested him.  The rector of the
seminary tried to follow the car that Adolfo was taken in, but lost the
car on the road to San Salvador.  Adolfo was taken to the Treasury
Police.

During the time of his detention at the Treasury Police headquarters,
Adolfo was blindfolded, made to stand for three days, and not allowed to
sit or sleep.  He was given no water to drink during the entire time.
When he was discovered drinking water from the toilet he was punished.
Electric shocks were administered to him under his tongue, he was
frequently beaten, the "capucha" (a rubber hood with lime) was put on
him 15 times a day.  At times this caused him to suffocate, his heart
stopped, and he had to be revived.  A string was tied around his
testicles which was tied to a bucket and slowly filled with water.  At
one point he was taken out to Lake Ilopango in early pre-dawn hours and
placed in water up to his waist while the Treasury police shot into the
water around him, demanding that he "collaborate" with them and tell
them all he knew.

At the end of these three days of torture, both physical and mental,
Adolfo Payes signed a blank sheet of paper on which was later written
his "confession."

There are number of irregularities in his case which support Adolfo
Payes' insistence upon his innocence, and a number of gross violations
of his due process rights which demand an immediate resolution to his
case:  Payes was not aware of what he was being charged with until he
first appeared in court, some four days after his capture.  The
"confession" itself is contradictory.  Payes "admits" to killing one of
the men several hours before the killing occurred, among other
inconsistencies.   The Salvadoran Constitution and the Criminal
Procedure Code render extra-judicial confessions invalid if they are
obtained by force.  An examination by a doctor made on the fourth day
after Payes' capture makes it clear that he indeed had been tortured,
but this report was not placed in the court's file.  Salvadoran law
limits the time between detention and trial to 120 days.  Payes has now
been imprisoned, awaiting trial for more than three years.

REQUESTED ACTION:  It is critical that the situation of Adolfo be
highlighted to President Cristiani, the Minister of Justice, and the
President of the Supreme Court.  Please send telexes and faxes
requesting the release of Adolfo Aguilar Payes from prison, and
expressing urgent concern for his physical well-being.

Lic Alfredo Cristiani
Presidente de la Republica      fax:  011-503-79-3401
Casa Presidencial               telex:  20245
San Salvador  El Salvador

Dr. Rene Hernandez Valiente
Ministro de Justicia
Ministerio de Justicia           fax:  011-503-23-2611
San Salvador  El Salvador        telex: 20179   20599

Dr. Mauricio Gutierrez Castro
Presidente de la Corte Suprema     fax: 011-503-71-4932
San Salvador, El Salvador          telex:  20343

TO SEND A TELEX OR FAX: Worldlink 1-800-827-2831 and
Faxnet 1-800-831-2202
Both have a CUANES sample message that can be sent to any or all
officials listed above.  If you want to use the sample, ask for
CUANES message 368

(Faxes can be sent using PeaceNet e-mail, or your own fax.)

Additional Background:
During July of this year, there was increasing criticism of the Supreme
Court as a perpetrator and defender of impunity.  A group founded by an
Ad Hoc Commission member, the "Casa de la Amistad" called for the
establishment of a commission to investigate Court actions in a number
of cases, including that of a former process server, Rene Garcia, who
presented photocopied documentation of irregularities to opposion
deputies in the National Assembly in May.

On July 16, it was announced that the trials of certain controversial
cases which should go to the Truth Commision were to be held
immediately, including the 1989 assassination of former Supreme Court
President Dr. Francisco Guerrero, and the murder of conservative
political analysts Edgar Chacon and Gabriel Payes.

On July 21, Cesar Erazo Cruz was tried and acquitted for the
assassination of Dr.  Guerrero.  The daughter of Dr. Guerrero, Aracely
Guerrero de Paredes, said "I do not consider myself to have been harmed
by Erazo Cruz."  She noted that her father's assassination was related
to "other causes," noting that his briefcase, which contained "important
documentation on the Jesuit case," was missing from the scene of the
crime.  (from the El Rescate Report July 13-August 10)

Following the acquittal of Cruz, Adolfo Payes' trial was indefinately
suspended.  The trial of Adolfo Payes was finally set for July 28 of
this year.  Before it began, the trial was abruptly suspended.  The
reason given for the suspension was that the publicity over the case had
created a negative envirmonment.  It was announced that the trial was to
take place by the end of August, but no trial has begun.
Some reports in July indicated that the public trial was suspended
because the jury had been threatened.

No trial has ever taken place.  Adolfo Aguilar Payes remains in Mariona.
He is in extremely serious physical condition because of his hunger
strike.  Little publicity about this case exists at the moment in El
Salvador; international pressure is needed to bring to light the
injustice of Adolfo Payes' siutation.