Peruvian authorities must respect the victims’ right to justice

2023-12-05 12:05:00
APGraphicsBank

In response to the recent resolution of the Constitutional Court (TC), which orders the release of former president Alberto FujimoriAmnesty International urges the authorities to guarantee, and not put at risk, the right to truth, justice, and reparation of the victims and their families.

We remember that former president Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison, among other crimes, for the crimes of the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases, which involved the qualified homicide of 25 people, serious injuries to four people, and aggravated kidnapping of two others..

Amnesty International considers that the TC’s decision contradicts Peru’s international human rights obligations, and represents a violation of the victims’ right to justice. In April 2022, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CoIDH) ruled that Peru should refrain from implementing the ruling that restored the effect of Fujimori’s pardon, since it did not comply with the conditions determined in the 2018 resolution on this same case, such as the payment of civil reparation, recognition of the seriousness of the crimes committed and their rehabilitation, or the effects that an early release would have on the victims and their families, factors that have not been considered for this decision.

Although States have the power to grant a humanitarian pardon, and it is their legitimate concern to ensure the life and guarantee of the right to health of a person deprived of their liberty, this does not necessarily have to imply the extinction of a penalty, even more so when it comes to a conviction for crimes against humanity.

In this sense, it is up to the State to proportionally assess measures that allow protecting the life and integrity of a person deprived of their liberty, without affecting the right of victims and their families to justice. In this sense, the CoIDH, in its 2018 Sentencing Supervision Resolution, points out that “in cases of serious human rights violations, the measure or legal figure that allows protecting the health, life and integrity of the convicted person must be the one that “the less it restricts the victims’ right of access to justice.”

Amnesty International considers that the decisions of the TC cannot go against the right to truth, justice, and reparation of the victims and their families.