Lima, November 18 (teleSUR-RHC)-- In a landmark move for tackling racism in Peru, a court handed down on Tuesday the South American country’s first conviction for racial discrimination.

The case comes as an important “act of vindication” for the historically discriminated Afro-Peruvian community, according to the country’s Ministry of Culture.

The ruling condemns two officials for involvement in a 2012 racial discrimination incident in in the workplace at the Municipal Water and Sewer Services Company of Huancayo, the capital of Peru’s central highlands region of Junin.

First, the general manager abused an Afro-Peruvian colleague with "hurtful words and derogatory gestures in relation to the color of her skin,” and then the head of human resources later failed to address the discrimination. 

The Peruvian court sentenced the two officials to prison while the investigation continues and a fine of US$1,560 for discrimination against the victim of abuse, Azucena Asunción Algendones.

According to Peruvian authorities, Algendones tried to address the discrimination through her workplace by going through the appropriate internal company procedures. But her employer took no action to punish the perpetrator of the discrimination despite witness accounts and reports that backed up her case and corroborated her account of the incident.

Seeing no justice or respect for her complaint, Algendones took the case to court, filing a discrimination charges against her general manager for the initial abusive behavior and against the head of human resources for not properly addressing the issue.

The sentence could set a precedent for other similar cases of racial discrimination.

The Peruvian Ministry of Culture applauded the sentence as “a precedent of great importance for the exercise of the right to equality and non-discrimination on grounds of origin, race, language, or customs.”