The Bolivian spy chief’s resignation and the 1992 killing of nine students and a professor by a gunman killed by an enemy soldier
The accusations against Fujimori have led to years of legal wrangling. The spy chief of his administration, Vladimiro Montesinos, was shown to have bribed legislators in leaked videotapes and he fled the country. Fujimori went to Japan, his parents’ homeland, and sent in his resignation by fax.
In 1992, nine students and a professor were kidnapped and murdered by a military squad. Forensic experts reported the victims were tortured and shot in the back of the head.
He is accused of planning the first of two massacres that took place in a poor neighborhood. Hooded soldiers fatally shot 15 residents, including an 8-year-old child, who had gathered at a party.
Fujimori remains a polarizing figure in Peru. His policies improved the country’s economy and pulled it out of a cycle of hyperinflation. But he also used the military to dissolve Congress and rewrite the constitution as well as to crack down on guerrilla violence.
Amnesty International, the Human Rights Defender, and the Liberation of a “Front-Distortion” Against the Penalties of President Kuczynski
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is concerned that the Constitutional Court order to release Fujimori is a “woefully missed opportunity” to respect international law.
The ruling risks making Peru an international pariah and also undermines access to justice, including through the Inter-American system, which Peruvians frequently rely on given the failings of Peru’s creaking and often corrupt legal system, warns Sonia Paredes, of Amnesty International Peru.
The members of the constitutional court, who opposed the pardon, said that they weren’t told about it. The chairman of the court believes that would have been pointless as they would not have helped draft it.
The pardon was initially authorized six years ago by then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski as he sought to mollify a congress dominated by the Fujimorista party, Popular Force. But it was quickly overturned by the inter-American court and the political backlash within Peru was so strong that it led to Kuczynski’s resignation under threat of impeachment.
Fujimori, who wore a face mask and received supplemental oxygen as he walked out of the prison, got in a SUV driven by his daughter-in-law. He sat in the backseat with son and daughter, right-wing career politician Keiko Fujimori. Dozens of supporters awaited him outside the prison and swarmed the vehicle as it attempted to move. It moved slowly through the streets of the prison’s neighborhood as people chanted and banged on the windows.
Many Peruvians view President Dina Boluarte as having blood on her hands. She has refused to resign and claims that Peru is “calm and at peace.” 8% of the citizens approve of her performance.
The human rights situation in the country gets worse as investigations into security forces’ killings of anti-government protesters get slower.
There were plans for a series of protests over the next three days to protest against the release from prison of Fujimori, who was found guilty of ordering the deaths of 25 suspected rebels during his presidency.
A Frail Fujimori: “I am sorry you can’t have a pardon”, says the president of the indigenous nation, in Lima, Peru
A frail Fujimori was being embraced by his sons and daughters in front of cheering crowds, but he was wearing a mask and oxygen while he was getting into an SUV.
“This sentence is not about vengeance or retribution but about justice. What we are losing sight of here is the victims of human rights abuses,” she says. When pardons are considered, they should be first and foremost.
The pardon was described as “slap in the face that hurts our soul” by Cardinal Pedro Barreto. He said that it was important to convey calm while also expressing indignation.
In 1992, he trashed the constitution because billions of dollars vanished from public coffers.
He is facing several future trials and it’s unclear how the pardon will affect them. One of those trials, for a massacre by a clandestine death squad in the coastal town of Pativilca, is due to start later this month.
Another is the case of forced sterilizations, in which thousands of mainly poor and Indigenous women were allegedly bullied and tricked into being sterilized against their wishes. Peruvian prosecutors have applied to the courts in Chile, from where Fujimori was extradited in 2007, for permission to try him for that case.
His pardon comes as the deeply unpopular conservative-dominated congress has been accused of dismantling the nation’s fragile democracy, including packing institutions such as the constitutional court with unqualified candidates during rushed processes.