Crime & Justice

‘Pardon is insult’: Peruvians reject Fujimori’s release

Lima, Mar 19 (EFE).- Hundreds of citizens marched on the streets of Lima on Saturday to the cry of “pardon is insult” against a Constitutional Court decision allowing the release of former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity.

The demonstrators gathered on San Martin Square in Lima for a peaceful march to reject the constitutional court’s decision to accept an appeal that reinstates the pardon granted to Fujimori in 2017 by then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018).

“We want the pardon of criminal Fujimori be revoked and, if he has a health problem, as his family says, then they apply for a humanitarian pardon through the appropriate channel,” National Coordinator of Human Rights (CNDDHH) executive secretary Jennie Dador told EFE.

The activist stressed the pardon was the result of a political settlement, referring to what the public prosecutor’s office considers to have been the product of a negotiation between Kuczynski and Fujimori’s youngest son, Kenji, who was then a congressman, for Fujimorist legislators to vote against a motion for the removal of the then-president.

Dador also criticized that the constitutional court’s heading ahead of the ruling on Thursday was behind closed doors and its details was not known.

During the demonstration, Marly Anzualdo, the sister of Kennet Anzualdo – a university student who disappeared on Dec. 16, 1993 during Fujimori’s regime – told EFE that the court was “embarrassing the justice system of Peru, with a pardon full of vices”.

Anzualdo added that the families of the victims of the Fujimorist regime will not stop until his pardon is revoked, because the conviction that was handed down in 2009 against Fujimori had “returned dignity to Peru and cannot be tainted”.

The executive secretary of the CNDDHH revealed to EFE that a day before the constitutional court ruling, human rights agencies approached the Inter-American Court seeking an interim measure “to prevent this irreparable harm”.

“As the ruling has already occurred, we immediately filed another petition, requesting it for immediate action in the process of supervising the sentence,” she said.

In this regard, the Inter-American Court gave the Peruvian authorities one week time to report to it on the provisional measures it has taken and “immediately bring to the attention of the Constitutional Court” about these actions.

Dador recalled that “the right to justice is not only to access the court and obtain justice, but that the prisoner, the convict, serves his sentence, otherwise impunity occurs.”

While the court resolution that will allow Fujimori to go free in the next few days is still to be officially notified, President Pedro Castillo’s government has also expressed its rejection of the ruling and said it intends to approach international organizations on the matter.

Fujimori, 83, was convicted of human rights violations and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in killings and kidnappings by the Grupo Colina death squad during his government’s battle against Shining Path leftist guerrillas in the 1990s. EFE

mhh-dub/sc

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