Security & Strategic Review August 2010 (ISSN 1741-4202)

BOLIVIA | First convictions for lynching. A Bolivian court has handed down the first-ever conviction for a lynching - that of Benjamí­n Altamirano, the mayor of Ayo Ayo in the La Paz highlands, in June 2004. Eight of 25 people charged with the crime were sentenced to 30 years imprisonment without benefit of pardon for the crimes of murder, kidnapping, assault and torture. Another six people were given sentences ranging from two to 20 years; four were acquitted and seven remain on the run. Prosecutor Milton Mendoza, who handled the case, said the outcome proved that investigating cases such as this, in which entire communities are involved, 'is difficult but not impossible'. The perpetrators had invoked their right to apply 'indigenous community justice', a principle that has since been enshrined in Bolivia's new 2009 constitution.

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