Peru mining security firm faces investigation

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Peru mining security firm faces investigation
Thu Feb 5, 2009 4:44pm EST

By Dana Ford

LIMA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - A Peruvian security company that works for some major international mining firms faces a congressional investigation after human rights groups accused it of beating and abusing protesters in 2005 at a site it guarded.

Recently published photos of alleged beatings of protesters caused an uproar in Peru, a leading metals exporter, where remote mines guarded by private security firms are often targets for demonstrations over the social and environmental impacts of mining.

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"The photos clearly show that personnel of Forza played an active role in the repression and torture," said Javier Jahncke at Fedepaz, another rights group that joined the National Coordinating Committee in filing a complaint on the case.

The National Coordinating Committee said the photos were sent by an anonymous whistleblower. One shows a man bleeding from his neck and another shows the same man a day later, dead.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN0537776620090205?rpc=401&