Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, 86, died on Wednesday (11), his family said.
“After a long battle with cancer, our father, Alberto Fujimori, has just passed away to be with the Lord. We ask those who loved him to join us in praying for the eternal rest of his soul. Thank you very much, father! Keiko, Hiro, Sachie and Kenji Fujimori,” family members of the former president posted on the social media of Keiko Fujimori, a former congresswoman and the former president’s eldest daughter.
In December of last year, Peru’s Constitutional Court had decided to release Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence for the Barrios Altos (1991) and La Cantuta (1992) massacres, which occurred during his government (1990-2000).
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) subsequently declared the Peruvian State in contempt “because it executed the sentence handed down by the Constitutional Court of Peru on March 17, 2022, which restored the effects of the pardon ‘for humanitarian reasons’ granted on December 24, 2017” by then President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to Alberto Fujimori, “despite the Court [IDH] having ordered it to refrain from implementing it.” The Peruvian Supreme Court had alleged “lack of jurisdiction” of the international court.
In 2009, Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for human rights violations due to the actions of the paramilitary group Colina, which in the massacres of Barrios Altos and La Cantuta killed a total of 25 suspected members of the Sendero Luminoso guerrilla group. The Peruvian justice system later concluded that the victims were not members of the group.
The former president had been in poor health since before his release and his condition worsened in recent months. In July, he underwent successful hip surgery, a week after being admitted to intensive care due to a fall at home.
Two months earlier, he was diagnosed with a new malignant tumor, which is why he announced that he would begin cancer treatment.
On Wednesday, before the announcement of Fujimori’s death, his personal doctor and fellow congressman, Alejandro Aguinaga, after visiting him at his home, said that he was “fighting for his life,” and the Peruvian presidency expressed “concern” about the former president’s health.
During his term, Fujimori defeated the Shining Path guerrilla group and improved the Peruvian economy, but he was accused of human rights violations (such as those that led to his conviction), authoritarianism and corruption.
In the so-called Autogolpe of 1992, he closed Congress, the Judiciary, the Public Ministry, the Constitutional Court and the Judiciary Council.
In 2000, accused of corruption, he took refuge in Japan and submitted a letter of resignation to the Peruvian presidency via fax. However, the Peruvian Congress rejected the document and approved his impeachment.
In 2005, he was arrested during a visit to Chile and was extradited to Peru in 2007. In December of the same year, Fujimori was sentenced to six years in prison for ordering illegal searches and seizures. In April 2009, he was sentenced to 25 years for human rights violations.
The former president was later sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for embezzlement and pleaded guilty in a fourth trial, this time to bribery, which carried an additional six-year sentence. (With EFE Agency)
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