Peru defends release of ex-president Fujimori

Former Peru’s President (1990-2000) Alberto Fujimori sits between his children Kenji (L) and Keiko upon his release from the Barbadillo prison in the eastern outskirts of Lima, on December 6, 2023. Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, 85, was freed from prison on Wednesday after a recent court order reinstated a pardon of his 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity. (Photo by RENATO PAJUELO / AFP)

Peru has defended its decision before a human rights court to free ex-president Alberto Fujimori from prison after he only served part of a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity.

Fujimori was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in supposed anti-terrorist operations.

In December, the Constitutional Court ordered him freed for humanitarian reasons, reinstating a pardon that was first granted in 2017 but revoked by the Supreme Court two years later.

The Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights urged authorities at the time to delay freeing Fujimori while it analyzed the court ruling, but he was released anyway.

On Tuesday, Justice Minister Eduardo Arana told reporters Peru had filed a report with the court arguing that it had acted “in strict compliance with the principles of legality and justice.”

The court had requested a report in December, considering Peru may have been in contempt.

“We are respectful of the inter-American human rights system of which Peru is a part,” said Arana.

However, “the Peruvian state will not allow its sovereignty to be affected by unjust or incorrect decisions,” he said.