By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
LIMA, Peru – The family of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has requested a humanitarian pardon from his extended sentence due to health problems.
His family has requested that his four concurrent sentences be commuted due to complications from mouth cancer and resulting lesions that may not have healed properly.
The former President led Peru from 1990-2000 and is credited with the dismantling of the terrorist group the Shining Path as well as reining in destabilizing hyperinflation. His administration is not without blemishes as his authoritative leadership included the operation of death squads that killed citizens and corruption. His third presidential candidacy election was constitutionally challenged and it was only by a large corruption scandal that ex-President Fujimori was finally brought down from power.
After being brought down, Fujimori fled to Japan, who refused to extradite him. Declared “morally unfit to govern” by the Peruvian congress, he returned to Chile in 2005 where he was placed under house arrest and extradited to Peru in 2007.
By 2009, special tribunals had convicted him and found him guilty of multiple human rights scandals and sentenced him for a number of charges. His largest sentence? 25 years for authorizing the operation of death squads that killed or disappeared numerous citizens.
Human Rights Watch has requested that the President of Peru take great care in determining whether or not to grant the medical pardon. While well within the wheel house of political powers weld by the President. The Peruvian Constitution requires that any pardons need to be in accordance with international treaties ratified by Peru. And international law dictates that the duty to investigate and punish perpetrators of human rights abuses cannot be undermined by pardons and immunities. Without extreme care, a pardon even for medical care could come off as contrary to human rights law and the international community.
While the request to pardon the former president is being analyzed by a commission “without any ‘politization’ and impartially” the former Health Minister, Luis Solari has raised concerns. Soalri claims that according to the medical certificates, Fujimori would not even qualify for such a pardon. One can be pardoned if they are at serious and imminent risk of losing life. Solari continues that Fujimori is not at risk of losing his life due to complications and his cancer is not in fact “terminal cancer.”
All in all the decision will come down to current President Ollanta Humala who was elected to the position over opponent and petitioner Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Alberto Fujimori.
For further information, please see:
El Comercio – Request For Pardon To Fujimori Is Analyzed With “No Politicization,” Said Justice Minister – 16 October 2012
El Comercio – “Fujimori Medical Certificates Are Not Accurate,” Said Former Minister Solari – 15 October 2012
Human Rights Watch – Peru: Humala Shouldn’t Give Fujimori Special Treatment – 11 October 2012
CNN – Family Seeks Pardon For Former Peruvian Leader – 10 October 2012
