Lima, Oct 27 (EFE). – The Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office closed its investigation into forced sterilizations during former President Alberto Fujimori’s government (1990–2000), citing a law promoted by President Keiko Fujimori’s administration that prevents crimes committed before 2002 from being classified as human rights violations, contrary to international standards.
Suspects named in the investigation included former President Alberto Fujimori, who died in 2024, and several of his ministers, including former Minister of Health Alejandro Aguinaga, now a senator allied with President Fujimori, and the late president’s daughter.
The ruling, signed by Prosecutor Jesús Víctor Dávila Rojas, acknowledged that the sterilizations were performed without the individuals’ free and informed consent and classified them as “crimes of serious bodily injury and serious bodily injury resulting in death.”
Given these characteristics, and in accordance with international criminal law, the court recognizes the forced sterilizations as a “crime against humanity,” stated Prosecutor Dávila.
However, Law 32107, introduced by Fujimori-aligned Congressman Fernando Rospigliosi, stipulates that acts committed before 2002, when Peru adopted the Rome Statute, cannot be classified as crimes against humanity, which prompted the case closing.
“Likewise, the alleged indirect perpetrators (who exercised control over the act) and direct perpetrators have been identified, (…) however, the criminal action has been extinguished” because the law enacted last year does not allow for it to be classified as a crime against humanity, the prosecutor explained.
The now-closed case file documented the cases of 4,172 people who were allegedly subjected, forcibly or without proper prior consent, to tubal ligation or vasectomy as part of the implementation of the “1996–2000 Reproductive Health and Family Planning Program,” which resulted in several incidents, including at least five deaths.
At the same time, the case was dismissed; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published through its official channels the judgment issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) regarding the case of Celia Ramos Durand, the first recognized fatality resulting from the forced sterilizations, which held the Peruvian State responsible for her death.
The ruling noted that this program “resulted in more than 314,000 sterilizations of women and 24,000 of men, many under duress and without valid consent, primarily affecting indigenous women and those living in poverty or extreme poverty.”
In this context, the judges ordered the State to proceed with the investigation into Ramos’s death and punish those responsible; to adopt a regulatory instrument on obtaining informed consent regarding sexual and reproductive health; and to design and implement a public policy on this matter as well as another policy for the reparation of victims of forced sterilization. EFE
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