HRW says release of former Peru president violates international law

FUjimori, 85, convicted in 2009 of the murder of 25 Peruvians by death squads in the 1990s, was released on Wednesday by order of the Constitutional Court (TC) of Peru, in a decision not subject to appeal.

“Fujimori’s release is an insult to the victims of atrocities” and takes place “in the context of a very serious erosion of the rule of law and the protection of human rights in Peru”, warned HRW director for the Americas, Juanita Goebertus.

The TC reinstated on Tuesday a humanitarian pardon granted to Fujimori in 2017 by the then President, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, revoked two years later by the Supreme Court, under pressure from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (ITHR).

The ICHR was opposed to the reinstatement of Fujimori’s pardon and had requested a postponement to study the decision.

In a statement, HRW argued that the ICHR should refer the case to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States.

“Peru released Fujimori based on a fallacious humanitarian pardon and against the orders of the main human rights court in the Americas,” said Goebertus.

The family of the former head of state has repeatedly requested that he be released for health reasons.

The former President suffers from respiratory and neurological problems, including facial paralysis, and high blood pressure.

Fujimori has been hospitalized several times in recent years, most recently in February due to an “irregular heartbeat”, according to news agency France-Presse.

The decision to release the former head of state “places Peru alongside Nicaragua and Venezuela as countries that challenge the inter-American human rights system”, Goebertus underlined.

“The international community should pressure the Government to comply with its international obligations, including the decisions” of the ICHR, added the head of HRW.

The Government of the Peruvian President, Dina Boluarte, has so far remained completely silent about the case.

Fujimori was accused of masterminding the murder of 25 Peruvians by a military death squad during his government, between 1990 and 2000, while he was fighting against the Shining Path communist rebels.

The politician governed Peru with an iron fist but, faced with growing opposition, he fled to Japan in November 2000, the country where his family is from, having announced his resignation from the presidency by fax.

Arrested and extradited to Peru during a visit to Chile in 2007, Fujimori was convicted two years later.

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