• by Ángel Páez (lima)
• Thursday, November 18, 2010
• Inter Press Service

A prosecutor in Peru clarified that Wong Ho Wing, a Chinese businessman in prison in this country since 2008 on charges of customs tax fraud, will not be released despite an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights decision to accept his case, which was filed to prevent his extradition to China, where he could face the death penalty.

'The fact that the IACHR has declared the Chinese citizen's case admissible does not mean it has ruled in his favour,' said prosecutor Delia Muñoz, a Justice Ministry official who specialises in supranational law.

But Luis Lamas, Wong's defence lawyer, argues that the IACHR decision indicates that Peruvian authorities, under pressure from Beijing to extradite the Chinese national, infringed on his rights.

According to the recently approved IACHR report No. 151/10, if the Peruvian state extradites Wong, it would be jeopardising his right to life, integrity and personal liberty, which are protected by the American Convention on Human Rights.

The document also states that Wong has exhausted all available legal remedies in Peru to avoid extradition, and that when the Peruvian courts approved China's extradition request, numerous procedural irregularities were committed.

Lamas told IPS that 'We filed a habeas corpus petition against extradition, which is prohibited by the constitution when the life of the person in question is in danger, because for the Peruvian government a mere promise by the Chinese authorities that my client would not be executed was deemed sufficient.

'They tried to overcome the obstacle to the extradition of a person who faces charges that carry the death penalty by means of a simple document in which the Chinese justice system promised not to sentence Wong Ho Wing to death,' he said.

'But how can credence be given to the word of authorities from a country where the norm is precisely to execute those guilty of serious crimes, such as the one my client is accused of?' Lamas wondered.

According to London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International, China is a world leader in executions.

'The Chinese authorities…while stating that their overall goal is to reduce the use of the death penalty, continue to use executions to demonstrate that activities deemed to be harmful to social stability will be treated harshly,' Amnesty states in its report 'Death Sentences and Executions 2009'.

In report 151/10 approved in a Nov. 1 session in Washington, D.C., where the IACHR is based, the Commission urged the Peruvian state and Wong to reach a friendly settlement.

If they fail to do so, the path will be open for the IACHR to refer the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, based in San José, Costa Rica.

The IACHR and the Court are the human rights bodies of the Organisation of American States (OAS).

Lamas said his client is willing to reach a friendly settlement with the Peruvian government, to avoid going to trial.

'The only thing the Chinese citizen wants is not to be extradited, that's all,' he said. 'If the state does not accept, it will have to face a trial in the Court in San José and a possible reparations payment of millions of dollars.'

Muñoz, the prosecutor, did not say whether the Peruvian government would accept a friendly settlement because, she said, the IACHR resolution would first be evaluated, before a pronouncement is made. In the meantime, Wong will stay in jail.

'The case won't go to the Inter-American Court yet,' Muñoz said. 'What the Commission indicates is that the measures adopted with respect to the Chinese citizen should be complied with, and that he should remain in prison.'

Wong, a businessman who was living in Lima with his wife and two young daughters, was arrested at the airport in the Peruvian capital on Oct. 27, 2008 as he was about to leave the country.

He faces charges in China of money laundering and bribery as well as customs tax fraud, a capital crime under Chinese law. The crimes were allegedly committed in Hong Kong between 1996 and 1998.

The Peruvian authorities were acting on an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol at the request of China's Public Security Ministry.

Wong, who is being held at the Sarita Colonia maximum security prison, near the airport, has filed two habeas corpus petitions.

An appeal of habeas corpus safeguards a person's fundamental rights to life and liberty against acts or omissions of the judicial system that could cause the person harm.

But only this week is the Constitutional Court getting ready to pronounce itself on the first petition, brought a year and a half ago.

China's ambassador in Lima, Zhao Wuyi, met with Justice Ministry and Supreme Court authorities to discuss the state of the extradition process.

Wong's defence attorney turned to the IACHR when it appeared that extradition was imminent. On Mar. 31, 2009, the Commission issued precautionary measures and asked the Peruvian government to refrain from extraditing him until a decision in the case was reached by the Inter-American human rights bodies.

The authorities in Peru agreed to the request, which triggered angry protests from the Chinese ambassador.

The incident has chilled relations between Lima and Beijing, which were excellent, largely as a result of a free trade agreement signed in April 2009.

In late May, the Inter-American Court issued provisional measures to protect Wong, and ordered the Peruvian state not to hand him over to China until Dec. 17, to give the IACHR time to issue its decision.

Provisional measures are used by the Inter-American Court to prevent irreparable harm to the rights and freedoms of persons who are in a situation of extreme gravity and urgency, including aliens under orders of deportation or extradition and those sentenced to capital punishment.

The recent IACHR decision to accept Wong's case could further cool bilateral relations because the government of Alan García will have to wait for the case to make its way through the OAS human rights bodies.

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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