San Jose, Dec. 21 (EFE) – The Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Thursday declared Peru in contempt of court for releasing former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) from prison in violation of an order for urgent measures issued in connection with the La Cantuta and Barrios Altos massacre cases.
The 85-year-old Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence, was released from prison on Dec. 6 by order of Peru’s Constitutional Court, despite the fact that the Inter-American Court had asked the Andean country’s authorities not to release him in order to guarantee justice for the victims of human rights violations.
In a resolution published on Thursday, the Court recalled that it had ordered that the humanitarian pardon not be carried out because it «did not comply with the norms of international law that should be taken into account when carrying out a judicial review».
The Inter-American Court ordered Peru to submit a report by March 4, 2024, on its compliance with the obligation to investigate, prosecute and, where appropriate, punish the grave human rights violations identified in the judgments issued in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases.
The state must continue to submit reports every three months for as long as the Court deems necessary.
Hours after Fujimori’s release, the Peruvian government, through Foreign Minister Javier Gonzalez-Olaechea and Justice Minister Eduardo Arana, issued a brief statement reaffirming its adherence to the American Convention on Human Rights (known as the San Jose Pact) and indicating that it had complied with a ruling of its Constitutional Court.
Fujimori was sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity for the death squad killings of 25 people in the massacres of La Cantuta in 1989 and Barrios Altos in 1991.
In 2017, President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski granted the former president a humanitarian pardon for health reasons – he had pre-cancerous lesions on his tongue – in order to gain support in Congress from his son, Kenji Fujimori, in a presidential impeachment process over Kuczynski’s connection to the Odebrecht international corruption scandal.
The humanitarian pardon was annulled months later due to Kuczynski’s political entanglements at the time he granted it, and Fujimori was sent back to prison, but in 2022 his lawyer filed a petition to once again request the release of his client, which bounced from court to court until his release on Dec. 6.
Peru is the second country to be held in contempt by the Court in recent years. Nicaragua is the other, after it failed to respond to numerous communications from the Court and did not comply with a series of protection measures in favor of dozens of citizens persecuted or considered political prisoners of the government of Daniel Ortega.
EFE dmm/ics
