``Uruguay Doesn't Respect Human Rights in the Case of the Peirano Family,'' says Former Banker Juan Peirano.

MIAMI -- Juan Peirano, a former banker from Uruguay, is detained in a Federal Detention Center in Miami, Florida, pending an extradition process. Mr. Peirano, and his brothers who are currently imprisoned in Uruguay, believe that the public needs to know the injustice that they say this government has imposed on them.

The government of Uruguay is requesting Juan Peirano's extradition alleging that in 2002, Mr. Peirano committed fraudulent acts in connection with the operation of Banco Montevideo. These allegations are being made at a time when the impartiality of Uruguay in this case is under intense international scrutiny.

On August 8, 2002, an Uruguayan investigative judge ruled that Juan's brothers -- Jorge, Dante and Jose Peirano Basso -- should be investigated and imprisoned, as a result of the collapse of Banco Montevideo, in the midst of the worst financial crisis in the history of Uruguay.

On March 14, 2006, the Organization of American States (OAS) through the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) accepted demands presented by the Peirano brothers against the government of Uruguay. In an official ruling to accept the case, the Commission stated that there exists evidence of violations of the Peirano brothers' human rights. Jorge, Jose and Dante have already spent four years in jail, without being formally charged.

"It seems like the government of Uruguay has no intention to formally charge the Peirano brothers because there is no evidence that they engaged in fraudulent activity. The government of Uruguay already achieved its goal of inventing a scapegoat for the Uruguayan financial crisis of 2002 and it appears intent on keeping the Peirano brothers imprisoned indefinitely without ever filing formal charges," said Matias Dorta, one of Juan Peirano's attorneys in the United States. Mr. Dorta further stated that this injustice must end.