Peruvian Public Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday demanded justice for the over 1,300 victims of the forced sterilizations performed during President Alberto Fujimori's administration (1990-2000).
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"The victims must be heard. Peruvian justice must open an investigation and punish the perpetrators," said Pablo Espinosa, the prosecutor in charge of this case.
"The defense lawyers insist that the case is time-barred. This argument is inadmissible. Forced sterilizations are a human rights violation and such a crime cannot go unpunished," he explained.
On Monday, Peruvian Justice resumed the trial against Fujimori and former ministers Eduardo Yong, Marino Costa, and Alejandro Aguinaga.
The former high-ranking officials are being tried for the serious injuries committed against 1,300 people and for the death of five women amid surgical procedures.
Fujimori is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for the massacres in Barrios Altos (1991) and La Cantuta (1992), where military officials killed about 20 people during an alleged anti-terrorist operation.
During his term, 350,000 women and 25,000 men were forcibly sterilized as part of a plan to reduce the birth rate in rural areas and Indigenous communities.