A woman holds up a poster calling for Fujimori’s release. /
The 83-year-old former leader may be released from prison after serving a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity
The Constitutional Court (TC) of Peru accepted this Thursday a “habeas corpus” that requested the nullity of a judicial resolution that suspended the pardon granted in 2017 to Alberto Fujimori, which implies that the former president will be released, Carlos Rivera confirmed to Efe, lawyer for the victims of the massacres of Barrios Altos (1991) and La Cantuta (1992).
“Unfortunately we can confirm this information, Fujimori’s freedom implies that he will have annulled, at least, two sentences of the Supreme Court referring to pardon,” Rivera told Efe by telephone.
The high court declared founded the appeal filed by the lawyer Gregorio Parco Alarcón against the resolution of the Supreme Court, which in 2018 annulled the pardon granted to former President Fujimori (1990-2000) on December 24, 2017 by the then president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018).
TC magistrate Eloy Espinosa confirmed in dialogue with Canal N that the court had a tie in the vote, as three members voted against granting “habeas corpus” to the former president, while three others spoke in favor.
Among those who were in favor of the measure, is the president of the TC, Augusto Ferrero, who had the power to cast a “quality vote or double vote” to break equality.
Espinosa maintained that the position of the president of the TC is that Fujimori “is a person who already has health problems” and there is “a humanitarian situation to attend to,” the same premises for which the 2017 pardon was proposed.
In contrast, those who opposed “habeas corpus” argued that “he is an elderly person, but he has all his basic care services” and, although he has health problems, “none of them are serious.”
With this decision, Fujimori, 83, will be able to leave the Barbadillo prison, located in the Lima district of Ate, where he was serving a 25-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity.
According to Rivera, from the Legal Defense Institute of Peru (IDL), Fujimori could be released this Thursday, something he called “nonsense.”
“What is being done is going against the express text of the judgment of the Judiciary, the Inter-American Court and the rights of the victims,” he told Efe.
Rivera added that, in his opinion, Fujimori’s circumstances “are identical to those of 2017” and that “the only thing that has changed is the composition of the TC.”
The Peruvian Justice ordered the annulment of the pardon after considering that it did not meet the legal requirements and lacked legal effects, for which Fujimori had to return to the prison of the police station in eastern Lima where he is serving his sentence.
The pardon is even being investigated by the courts, since the Prosecutor’s Office considers that it was the product of a negotiation between Kuczynski and Fujimori’s youngest son, Kenji, who was a congressman at the time, so that Fujimorist legislators would vote against a request for impeachment. of the then president.
Fujimori was discharged last Monday after overcoming a heart condition that forced him to be admitted to a Lima clinic, although he will continue to be treated in prison for pulmonary fibrosis, according to his eldest daughter, Keiko, at the time.