Corpun file 26846 at www.corpun.com

Ananova News, 2 August 2019

Government Backed Lynch Mob Whip Alleged Thief

By Jonathan Macias

The man is being flogged as a punishment
Video Credit: CEN/@CajamarcaUltimasNoticias

This is the moment a man is whipped and makes no sound after being found guilty by a government-backed citizen crime-fighting initiative in Peru known as the "peasant rounds".

The alleged theft and the punishment took place in Cajamarca, which is an important commercial centre in the Andes in northern Peru.

The alleged thief, named in local media as Edwin Donato Chuquimango, a gas container delivery man, was whipped for stealing a motorcycle and 2,000 PEN (491 GBP) from his boss Gilbert Lucho Cabrera, who instead of calling in cops made a complaint to the "Decentralised Committee of Urban and Rural Rounds in the capital Cajamarca -- the so-called "peasant rounds".

Cabrera apparently felt that he would not receive justice from the police, and so made the complaint to the local "peasant rounds" which is one of the semi-legal bodies that have been endorsed by national legislation since 2002. These community organisations have the power to dispense justice and even to perform physical punishment.

As a result of the complaint, Chuquimango reportedly confessed to the theft and returned the motorcycle and part of the money. Local authorities are not believed to be involved.

The video captures the moment Chuquimango is being whipped in front of a man in a blue shirt who later identifies himself as his boss Lucho Cabrera and explains to the camera that his employee is giving back the money he stole.

In 2014, there was a public debate about the "peasant rounds" -- also known as "urban rounds" -- when a group of men and women, part of the Urban Rounds of Cajamarca, broke into a brothel at midnight, reportedly with the motive of "eradicating prostitution and crime."

According to local media, they whipped the prostitutes and the employees of the establishment and forced the security staff to do push-ups between lashes.

The brothel owner pressed charges against the president of the committee, Fernando Chuquilin Ramos, for breaking into a legally managed building and for having taken about 2,000 PEN (491 GBP)from the cash register.

Last March, the Superior Court of Justice sentenced Chuquilin Ramos to two years of probation and a fine of 6,000 PEN (1,474 GBP).

The national government in Peru however is in general in favour of these regional justice organisations and is working to support the job that the citizen crime-fighting organisations are doing after revealing they were paying to give them more power and support with a new proposed bill.

Supreme Prosecutor and Director of the Centre for Intercultural Affairs, Communities and Rural Rounds (CAIMP), Tomas Galvez told local media: "Urban rounds are the only and last alternative we have to beat crime, especially citizen insecurity."