Authorities in Peru have charged five men in the timber industry with the 2014 murders of four indigenous activists who had battled illegal logging in the Amazon jungle.
Two timber executives and three loggers have been charged with the shooting deaths of the activists, prosecutor Otoniel Jara, who works in Peru’s remote Ucayali region, told reporterson Wednesday.
Environmentalists have said that the case is unprecedented in Peru, where years of illegal logging and, on occasion, suspected attacks by those carrying it out have often been met with an ineffectual response from authorities.
Photo: AP
“We hope that the legacy of the victims of this massacre can lead to justice,” said Tom Bewick of Rainforest Foundation US, a group that funded efforts to bring the alleged killers to justice.
Bewick said that he hoped the case would “set an example for other indigenous environmental defenders across the world.”
The indigenous group’s leader, Edwin Chota, along with Jorge Rios Perez, Leoncio Quinticima and Francisco Pinedo were found dead on Sept. 1, 2014.
Authorities have said that the men were killed with shotgun blasts in the Upper Tamaya-Saweto Ashaninka indigenous territory along Peru’s border with Brazil.
The activists had defended the forests, traveling by canoe for three days to the regional capital city, Pucallpa, to file complaints and urge forestry officials to take action.
They urged prosecutors to stop illegal logging, presenting photographs and sketches they made of destruction they found.
Prosecutors have said that the five suspects could face up to 35 years in jail if convicted.
Timber executives Jose Estrada and Hugo Soria are accused of ordering the killings, which were allegedly carried out by loggers Eurico Mapes, Josimar Atachi and Segundo Atachi.
The suspects or their attorneys were unreachable for comment.
Throughout a five-year investigation, the men publicly denied the charges. They remain free and are believed to be living in the remote jungles of Peru.
Jara said that prosecutors who were assigned to the case before him had abandoned it.
The three loggers had been in the area where the bodies were found, while the two businessmen had lost revenue after the indigenous activists accused them of illegal logging, Jara said.
On one occasion, Estrada allegedly referred to Chota, telling witnesses: “I’ll pay whatever... I want his head,” documents filed by prosecutors showed.
The bodies of Chota and Quintisima were found, while those of Rios and Pinedo are still missing.
Relatives of the four activists have said that the jungle territory of their community remains vulnerable.
However, they welcomed the charges, saying they hope that it signals a shift toward more robust protections for indigenous groups.
“This is good,” said Ashaninka Diana Rios, daughter of Jorge Rios. “This is not going to be filed away and forgotten.”
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