The "End the Isolation" Statement

We, the undersigned, wish to express our deep concern regarding the Peruvian Government's treatment of the imprisoned Chairman of the Communist Party of Peru, Dr. Abimael Guzmán.

On September 12, 1992, Dr. Guzmán was captured. Within weeks he was tried by a hooded military tribunal and was sentenced to life in prison, to begin with one year of solitary confinement. On September 12, 1993, Dr. Guzmán's isolation was to have ended. Yet Dr. Guzmán has not been seen by his lawyers, his doctors, his family, or his friends for over two years. The Peruvian government has repeatedly denied requests made by Dr. Guzmán's legal representatives to visit him. Continuing the isolation of Dr. Guzmán violates international treaties to which Peru is a signatory, and Peru's own recently enacted Constitution. No person who believes in justice can condone such violations.

Many individuals and organizations have attested to deadly conditions in Peru's prisons, including lack of basic food and medical care. Others have spoken to the difficulty lawyers have faced in representing those who are accused of political acts against the government. We are aware, for example, of the cases of the lawyers Alfredo Crespo Bragayrac and Jorge Cartegena Vargas and others. Lawyers must be free to represent their clients. We will not be silent while the basic rights of political prisoners in Peru are being violated. All political prisoners must be allowed visits with their lawyers, doctors, relatives and friends. This is the only way to ensure their health and status.

We therefore demand an immediate end to the isolation of Dr. Abimael Guzmán. We demand that he be allowed visits by his lawyers, his doctors, his family, and others, and that he be allowed to speak with them directly and unimpeded, in compliance with internationally recognized standards. We also demand that all lawyers who have been imprisoned simply for practicing their profession be freed.

Mumia Abu Jamal (USA) - revolutionary journalist/political prisoner/MOVE supporter on death row Huntingdon Prison, PA
Tuncay Akkaya (Turkey) - Lawyer, United Socialist Party, Chair of Balceva Area
Necmi Aksoy (Turkey) - Chair of Izmir County People's Democratic Party
Prof. Estanislao Aliaga Z (Bolivia) - Exec Sec'y; Federacion Dptal de Trabajadoras de la Educacion de La Paz (FDTEULP)
Fayez Ahmed (Bangladesh) - President, Coalition of Cultural Organizations
Bruce Anderson (USA) - Editor, Anderson Valley Advertiser* A left Weekly
Carol Andreas (USA) - Author, Sociologist
T Anjaneyulu (India) - Advocate, District Sec'y of APCLC; Member, Vitayawada Bar Assn.
Francesc Arnau y Arias (Spain) - Abogado
Auckland Univ. Radical Society (New Zealand)
Zubeyir Aydar (Turkey) - Member of Parliament
Dr K Balagopal (India) - General Sec'y, Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee
Tony Benn (UK) - Member of Parliament
Akin Birdal (Turkey) - President of Human Rights Assn. of Turkey
Christos Bistis (Greece) - General Sec'y, Revolutionary Communist Movement of Greece
JosT Bola o (Colombia) - Directivo sindical Central Unitaria de Trabajadores
Marcel Bosonnet (Switzerland) - Lawyer
Reverend Robert Bossie, SCJ (USA)
Emmanuel Boutterin (France) - Directeur d'Agence de Presse; President de Union der Amcieus Eleves des Ecoles de Journalisme
Bill Bowring (UK) - Barrister, Chair of Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Ute Brandt (Germany) - Lawyer
Dennis Brutus (USA) - Prof., Univ. of Pittsburg; Chair, Africa Network*
Father Robert Castle (USA) - St. Mary's Episcopal Church*
Ricardo Castro (Colombia) - Secretario organizacion Central Unitaria de Trabajadores
Ismet Can Cetin (Turkey) - Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Union
Alberto Chipana Alanoca (Bolivia) - President, Exec Committee; Federacion de Estudiantes de Secundaria
Ramsey Clark (USA) - Lawyer
Committee in Support of the Revolution in Peru - Melbourne (Australia)
Grigoris Constantopoulos (Greece) - Central Committee, Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist)
Mary E Blevins-Cox (USA) - Atty., Member of National Conference of Black Lawyers*
Carl Dix (USA) - National Spokesperson, Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
Prof. Peter Erlinder (USA) - President, National Lawyers Guild*
Craig Everson (Australia) - Lawyer, Aboriginal Legal Services, Ltd.*
Martin Garbus (USA) - Civil Rights and First Amendment Atty.
Lucio Gonzales A (Bolivia) - Exec Committee; Central Obrera Boliviana (COB)
Enrique Gonzalez Ruiz (Mexico) - Lawyer
Verena Graf - (Switzerland) Sec'y General of the Int'l League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples
Fatos Guney (Turkey) - Ylmaz Guney Culture and Art Foundation
Martin Heiming (Germany) - Lawyer for political prisoners; member of 1st & 5th IEC delegations
Matilda House (Australia) - Chair, Ngunnawal Aboriginal Lands Council
Ali Kaleci (Turkey) - Board of Directors, Revolutionary Miners Union
Charles Kilduff (Australia) - Lawyer (former Chief Magistrate)
William Kunstler (USA) - Atty.
Gloria Estela La Riva (USA) - International Peace for Cuba Appeal
Father Lawrence Lucas (USA)
Pablo Moses (Jamaica) - Musician
National Lawyers Guild (USA)
Heriberto Ocasio (USA) - National Spokesperson, Committee to Support the Revolution in Peru
Barbara Owl (USA) - Grand Council Member, American Indian Movement*
Ann-Marie Parodi (France) - Lawyer
Jeff Paterson (USA) - First military Gulf War resister, USMC ret
Rights International, The Center of International Human Rights Law (USA)
Davydd ap Saille (David Seals) (USA) - Author of "The Pow Wow Highway"; Ambassador, League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations
Mustafa Ekmegi (Turkey) - Author
Martin Sanchez (USA) - National Exec Director, National Lawyers Guild*
Ricardo Sanchez, Ph.D. (USA) - Poet/Prof., La Resistencia
Paul Sheehan (USA) - USAF Gulf War Resister
Prof. Jose Maria Sison (Netherlands) - Chair, Center for Social Studies
Philip Smith (USA) - Editor, "Covert Action Quarterly"*
Edip Akbayrum (Turkey) - Musician
Rafael Altamar (Colombia) - Secretario de porte SINTRAIMELET
Safak Altun (Turkey) - Artist
Colin Lloyd Amery (New Zealand) - Barrister; Exec Director, Lawyers Against Torture and Oppression (LATOA)
Jorge Argueta (USA) - Escritor
KK Akora (India) - Doctor
Dr Alp Ayan (Turkey) - Izmir, Chair of the Human Rights Bureau of Turkey
Ramiro Bairenechea (Bolivia) - Diputado y Asesor de los Cocaleros; EJE - Pachakuti
Costa Bakirtzis (Greece) - Trade Unionist
AT Bigwood (Australia)
HTctor Castro Portillo (Colombia) - CONADES (Comision Nacional de Derechos Humanos)
Bayram Celik (Turkey) - Lawyer; Antep Human Rights Association
Ceylon Trade Union (Sri Lanka)
Dr David Henry De Leon (USA) - Historian, Howard Univ.
Roger Dittman (USA) - Prof. of Physics, CSU Fullerton, National Coordinator, US Federation of Scholars and Scientists*
Mehmet Cey Dolek (Turkey) - Founder of HEP (People's Democracy Party)
Konstantinidis Efthimios (Greece) - Psychiatrist-Neurologist, former Director of Neurologic Clinic, NIMTS Hospital
Haluk Gerger (Turkey) - Journalist and Economist; Member of 5th IEC delegation to Peru; political prisoner in Haymana
Hafizi Gobanoglu (Turkey) - Lawyer, Member of Leading Committee of the Lawyer's Guild of Izmir
Mark Heger (USA) - Prof. of Law, American Univ., Washington College of Law*
Steven Katsineris (Australia) - Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners*
Mahmut Kiling (Turkey) - Member of Parliament, DEP Party
Ron Kuby (USA) - Atty.
James Lafferty (USA) - Exec Vice President, National Lawyers Guild
Victor Lopez Arias (Bolivia) - Exec Sec'y; Federacion Sindical Trabajadoras Mineros de Bolivia
Reggie Major (USA) - Writer
Francisco Forest Martin (USA) - Rights International, The Center for International Human Rights Law*
Jamal Mediani (UK) - Campaign Against Torture & Oppression in Morocco (CATOM)
James Mussellman (USA) - May First Workers Movement 1980
Ioanis Papamichael (Greece) - Exec Committee of General Confederation of Workers of Greece
Rosa Pe ate (USA) - LCLAA, SDS, Solidaridad Democratica Salvadore
Hassan Ronaghy, Ph.D. (USA) - Prof. of Economics, Youngstown State Univ.
Bill Stivers (USA) - Alaskans Concerned about Latin America
Server Tanilli (France) - Prof., Univ. of Strasbourg
EB Trevett (UK) - General Sec'y, New Communist Party of Britain
Mihalis Vardakis (Greece) - Peasant
Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist (USA)
Kapiupaharan Visuvalingam (France) - Sec'y General, Tamil Centre for Human Rights
Peter Williams (New Zealand) - Barrister, President, LATOA
Workers Party of New Zealand (New Zealand)
Paul Wright (USA) - Prison Legal News, Editor (prisoner)
Can Yucel (Turkey) - Writer, Poet
Reverend S Michael Yasutake (USA) - Director, Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience
Raqip Zarakolu (Turkey) - Journalist, Editor, Writer, Member of PEN
Workers World Party (USA)
Howard Zinn (USA) - Historian
14 political prisoners with PKK in Buca Prison, Turkey
400 Kurdish, Turkish and German workers in Berlin, Germany
9 Members of Parliament, Nepal
22 Striking transport workers in Instanbul, Turkey
63 prisoners at Washington State Reformatory Prison (USA)

...and thousands more