The President of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe (Member of Parliament, Minister of Employment and Labour, and Chief Government Whip of Sri Lanka), has expressed concern about the situation of Mr. Juan Pablo Letelier, Member of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies.

In a letter sent to the Minister of Justice of Chile, Mr. Luis Bates, and to the President of the Supreme Court of Chile, Mr. Mario Enrique Astrob Garrido Montt, the President of the IPU Committee expressed his "consternation" at Mr. Letelier’s arrest on 22 May 2003 and at the decision of the 27th May to prosecute him "on charges of taking a bribe and engaging in activities incompatible with his office".

Mr. Letelier is a member of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians and served for two years as its President (2001-2002). "We are confident that, in conformity with the international human right principles to which Chile has subscribed, our colleague will be granted without delay his right to answer the charges held against him and enjoy all guarantees of a fair trial. As you will understand, this is of fundamental importance to our Committee, in particular in view of serious allegations that the proceedings brought against our colleague may be based on political motivations", wrote Mr. Samarasinghe.

Mr. Juan Pablo Letelier is the son of the former Foreign Minister to the government of Salvador Allende, Orlando Letelier, who was assassinated in Washington in 1976. Born in 1961, Juan Pablo Letelier is an economist by training and a member of the Chilean Socialist Party.

The President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Chilean Senator Sergio Páez, visited Mr. Juan Pablo Letelier in Los Capuchinos jail. He provided Mr. Letelier with copies of the letters sent by the President of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to the Minister of Justice and to the President of the Supreme Court of Chile.

The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians will hold its 102nd session in Geneva, from 7th to 10th June 2003.

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, the IPU, the oldest multilateral organisation, currently has 145 affiliated national parliaments and five regional assemblies as associate members. The organisation of the world's parliaments also has an office as Permanent Observer with the United Nations in New York.
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