Human Rights Court negates release of Fujimori

The plenary session of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Court-IDH) issued this Friday, April 8, a resolution ordering the State of Peru to “refrain from implementing” a sentence that allows the release of former President Alberto Fujimori.

According to the Inter-American Court, the decision of the Constitutional Court of Peru “did not carry out a weighting that took into account the impact that the pardon for serious human rights violations has on the right of access to justice of the victims and their families”.

Fujimori, who ruled from 1990 to 2000, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity after being extradited from Chile in 2007.

On April 1, Peru assured that it will abide by any decision of the Inter-American Court on whether Fujimori should remain in prison, despite a resolution of its Constitutional Court that allows his release.

“The decision that [the Inter-American Court] takes will be implemented by the State as soon as possible,” Attorney General Carlos Miguel Reaño, the Peruvian State Attorney, said at the time.

On March 17, the Peruvian Constitutional Court restored to Fujimori, 83, a controversial pardon that President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had granted him in 2017 and annulled 10 months later by the justice system.

Fujimori is accused of the massacres of Barrios Altos and La Cantuta, which left 25 victims during his government.

These massacres were designated as crimes against humanity because they were perpetrated through homicide qualified with treachery, serious injuries and aggravated kidnapping, according to sentences of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2001 and 2006.

Relatives and lawyers of the victims of these events have filed an appeal to block the president’s release.