Humanitarian reasons
Peruvian ex-president Fujimori released from prison
Alberto Fujimori (M) is driven out of prison by his children Kenji (l) and Keiko (not seen). photo
© Martin Mejia/AP
The 85-year-old served a long prison sentence for human rights violations. During his reign, death squads killed numerous government opponents. Now Fujimori is at large.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights previously unsuccessfully called on the Peruvian authorities not to implement the Constitutional Court’s decision for the time being and to keep Fujimori in custody. However, the prison administration soon announced that it would follow the verdict and release Fujimori.
Fujimori was serving a 25-year prison sentence for serious human rights violations. During his term in office from 1990 to 2000, he had the security forces take rigorous action against left-wing and allegedly subversive forces, and parliament was disempowered. At that time, the state saw itself threatened by the Maoist terrorist organization Shining Path. In addition, tens of thousands of indigenous women were forcibly sterilized in order to reduce the number of children they had. They were seen as an obstacle to development.
Fujimori curtailed the powers of the judiciary
At the beginning of his career, Fujimori appeared on the political scene as a clean-cut man and clearly defeated the world-famous writer Mario Vargas Llosa in the 1990 presidential election. The son of Japanese immigrants was considered an outsider and initially convinced Indians and farmers who increasingly distrusted the European-influenced establishment in Lima. The pragmatic agricultural scientist used shock therapy to end the economic crisis and hyperinflation and ensured high growth figures for years.
However, he also abolished the two-chamber system and curtailed the powers of the judiciary. Although the constitution only allowed two terms, he ran for a third term in 2000. Fujimori won the election, but shortly afterwards stumbled over the Montesinos scandal. His intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos was filmed giving a bribe to an opposition lawmaker to persuade him to join Fujimori’s party.
Fujimori initially went to Japan, but was arrested on a trip to Chile and extradited to Peru. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2009 for human rights violations committed by death squads during his time in office. In 2017, he was pardoned by then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and released from prison. However, the Supreme Court later overturned the decision and Fujimori was imprisoned again.