BBC News, 21
September 2014
 |
| The commission was announced after the murder of anti-logging activist Edwin Chota (pictured) and three other indigenous leaders |
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Stories
The
Peruvian government says it will investigate illegal logging along the
Peru-Brazil border following the murder of four indigenous leaders.
The leaders
were killed in early September, allegedly by loggers.
The
Peruvian President of the Council of Ministers, Ana Jara Velasquez, announced a
commission which she said would have powers to stop the logging.
She said
police had so far arrested one person suspected of involvement in the killings.
The four
tribal leaders, including outspoken anti-logging activist Edwin Chota, had been
killed on their way to a meeting to discuss ways to stop illegal logging.
The men
from the Ashaninka community were attempting to travel to Brazil when they were
murdered,
Under
threat
Campaigners
say the men had received several death threats from illegal loggers.
Correspondents
say indigenous people have felt under increasing threat from deforestation in
recent years.
Ana Jara
Velasquez said the new commission would also address the issue of land
ownership and titles in the area.
The
Peruvian newspaper El Comercio said Mr Chota had requested earlier this year,
and been refused, any rights of protection over his ancestral lands.
The
newspaper quoted the local forestry commission in Mr Chota's region of Ucayali
as saying that the Peruvian government had divided the land and allocated it as
logging concessions to two companies in 2002.
A 2012
World Bank report estimated that 80% of Peruvian timber export stemmed from
illegal logging.
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