0.02 Prisoners on their release from a maximum security jail in Peru.
0.06 Victor Villanueva is one of them: proved innocent after serving four years.
0.11 (PAUSE ONE) To the strains of the national anthem, members of an ad hoc commission observe the release. They've been charged with recommending the pardon of inmates falsely accused of terrorism.
0.23 PRISON SPOKESMAN, IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION: "They had no involvement whatsoever with any elements, activities or organisations linked with terrorism."
0.33 They're innocent, it's official. But the anguish is far from over.
0.37 VICTOR VILLANUEVA, RELEASED PRISONER:
"I would like to say that I was a healthy person before. If I am like this, it's because of an injustice. What I want to know is: who is going to put right this mistake, this injustice."
0.59 There is little hope of compensation for those wrongly detained.
1.03 At 32, Victor's a cripple for life. When government soldiers came to arrest him, they didn't ask any questions... One of the bullets broke his back.
1.12 He is not the only victim of institutional violence. To this day, there are hundreds of innocent people held in Peruvian jails.
1.21 Thousands were arrested in an anti-terrorist drive launched after President Alberto Fujimori dissolved Congress seven years ago.
1.29 Victor catches a glimpse of youngsters playing his favourite game as he arrives at a relative's house.
1.36 Before his ordeal started, he lived more than 400 kilometres north-east of Lima.
1.43 Deprived of a breadwinner, the family moved here. Victor's wife Maria does domestic work for her cousin.
1.49 PAUSE AS SON CALLS OUT ‘PAPPY'
1.52 Their son was less than a year-old when the soldiers burst in. Victor was closest to the door so he was the one they sprayed with bullets. It could have been one of the children.
2.05 He has relived the horror of that moment many times since then. What next?
2.11 VICTOR VILLANUEVA, IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
"Things are more difficult for me now. It is difficult to be here with my children without being able to work or move. If it wasn' for my crutches or my wheelchair, I couldn' move at all. I don't have the stability... I have to depend on other people. It is more difficult now."
2.45 The children witnessed the outrage. The seven-year-old was no longer a baby. She can remember. And both were marked for life. A heavy price for a mistake.
2.56 MARIA VILLANUEVA, VICTOR'S WIFE, IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
"Since then they have been afraid of the police and of the military. They've been traumatised. When we were walking with my mother recently, they ran away at the sight of policemen and soldiers. It was as if they had seen some fierce animal."
3.12 This is how most Peruvians would like their homeland to be seen: prosperous and refined, proud of its achievements and traditions.
3.21 But the reality doesn't match the dream. Life is not rosy for the majority.
3.26 They accuse President Fujimori of ruling by decree and failing to deliver on promises made at the start of his first term in office in nineteen-ninety - and repeated after a coup which strengthened his hand two years later.
3.41 A few have done well since he shut down Congress and the law courts and launched a military crack-down on the activities of Sendero Luminoso and Tupac Amaru guerrillas. Their war of attrition had already claimed tens of thousands of victims.
3.58 The left-wing guerrillas have been dealt serious blows in recent years.
4.03 The number of guerrilla attacks has dropped dramatically since these pictures were taken. The authorities claim counter-insurgency tactics have done much to restore peace both in the capital and in remote areas of the interior where local populations were often caught in the crossfire.
4.20 The capture of the Sendero leader Abimael Guzman and his public humiliation helped Fujimori justify his autocratic style. (UP SOT)
4.32 The arrest of Tupac Amaru leaders also boosted confidence in the government - especially after what was to be its most severe test.
4.44 The longest siege in Latin American history.
4.47 (PAUSE THREE AS EXPLOSION OCCURS)
4.50 Begun in December ninety-six, it ended in April ninety-seven - a hundred and twenty-six days later...
4.57 (PAUSE THREE FOR OTHER EXPLOSION)
5.00 ... with a military assault on the Japanese embassy.
5.03 Seventy-two of the original five hundred hostages held by left-wing guerrillas, were released.
5.09 (PAUSE THREE FOR EXPLOSION)
5.13 A red flag was finally snatched away. Its Tupac Amaru owners were dead.
5.18 President Fujimori - seen here in his shirt sleeves - was soon at the scene to take responsibility for the assault. His popularity soared.
5.26 But it plummeted again only months later with reports of torture and killings by army intelligence services. Allegations of corruption and abuse of power in high places were rife.
5.37 But there have been improvements: trials of suspects by 'faceless' judges were discontinued recently and about five hundred prisoners falsely accused of terrorism have been pardoned.
5.48 There's little doubt that Fujimori wishes to be seen as a strong leader. He has used the army to this end. But this could backfire.
6.01 As a major prop of the government, the army underlines the vulnerability of a leadership without the support of the military.
6.08 President Fujimori has made it clear he intends to run for a third consecutive term in the year 2000.
6.16 Since the presidency is normally renewable once only, this is not, overall, a popular move.
6.24 But he has proved on more than just one occasion that he is not afraid to confront the opposition.
6.33 However, there are other grievances: he's achieved too little on the economic and social fronts in his two terms.
6.41 Beyond the veneer of prosperity, the squalor of the shanty towns...
6.46 Health and education standards mean little here. It's people's very survival that's at risk as a result poverty, violence and injustice. They're part of everyone's experience on the outskirts of Lima.
6.59 At 70, Ulises Gonzales has difficulty walking - not because he is old, but as a result of beatings at the hands of the security forces.
7.10 He was jailed for five and a half years for alleged terrorism. He was eventually proved innocent and released in July ninety-eight. Incarceration did not break his spirit. It ruined his life and opened his eyes.
7.27 FORMER PRISONER ULISES CONZALES, IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
"The defense lawyers, the district attorneys, the tribunals, they all flout the law. They mock the Constitution, they mock the law. I met a couple of men that honour their uniform, but the rest are more criminals than the criminals that are inside the jails. They deal, they do business."
7.59 Ulises and thousands of others like him know from bitter experience the weight of the law. Although released with full apology from the courts, pardoned prisoners have not had their charges or convictions quashed.
8.13 Some blame the weaknesses of the system on bureaucratic delays. Whatever the cause, the consequences can't be ignored: with a criminal record, even the physically and mentally fit are unlikely to find jobs.
8.26 Most released prisoners know that they'll need to campaign long and hard to get a clean slate or receive compensation for their arbitrary detention.
8.36 As for the members of the Ad Hoc Commission, they can't risk antagonising top leaders without jeopardising the release of innocent prisoners.
8.44 JORGE SANTISTEVAN, AD HOC COMMISSION OMBUDSMAN:
"I have said publicly that according to the international criteria, according to the international instruments, terrorists should be tried by civil courts, and not by military courts, though it is accepted by our Constitution. So I promote the change in the Constitution, I promote the change in the Law, but I don't keep up criticising the trials already performed because what I prefer is to concentrate again on the release of those who deserve to be released.'
9.24 Hubert Lanssiers, a priest and teacher of philosophy, left his native Belgium years ago to help prisoners break free from oblivion and silence.
9.34 HUBERT LANSSIERS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND AD HOC COMMISSION MEMBER, IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
"Imagine, these people have been cut off from everything. They have a unique experience, an experience that they can't share. That's why they have this feeling of solitude."
9.47 For people like Victor, broken in body and spirit, life holds few promises. But his daughter's concern may allow him to break free from solitude - time will tell.
9.59 And hopefully Victor and his family will be able to put their past behind them.
10.08 ENDS