Live
Audio Only
United Nations experts and the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances have released a statement regarding Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's pardon of former head of state Alberto Fujimori, saying they are "appalled by this decision."
"It is a slap in the face for the victims and witnesses whose tireless commitment brought him to justice," the statement added.
RELATED:
Peru to Hold Nationwide Protests Against Fujimori Pardon
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Agnes Callamard and Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth and Justice Pablo de Greiff called Kuczynski’s pardon “a major setback for the rule of law in Peru.”
They went on to say that “international human rights law restricts the granting of amnesties, pardons or other exclusions of responsibility in cases of serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.” Thus, they say, Fujimori “does not meet the legal requirements for a pardon.”
Francisco Soberon, director of the Pro-Human Rights Association, made a similar statement Wednesday, saying the pardon "does not conform with the Inter-American Human Rights Court ruling.” Soberon’s organization, along with relatives of Fujimori's victims, announced they are seeking to overturn the ruling.
The Inter-American Human Rights Court, IAHRC, which convicted Fujimori on two charges of crimes against humanity in 2009, does not permit pardons and sentence reductions on their rulings. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was already serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power that began in 2007.
The IAHRC found Fujimori guilty of orchestrating an army squad killing of 25 people. He was also found guilty of kidnapping journalist Gustavo Gorriti and businessman Samuel Dyer and directing the killings of nine students and one professor from the Enrique Guzman and Valle National University.
He is also linked to forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the war against insurgent groups Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. The former president also directed the forced sterilization of approximately 300,000 women between 1996 and 2000.
Two years into his ten-year presidency, Fujimori concocted a self coup in 1992. The political move facilitated his ability to dissolve Congress and the Supreme Court and to place himself at the head of an authoritarian regime.
The current president’s decree clears Fujimori of his guilt and gives him impunity for any pending judicial proceedings.
Kuczynski granted Fujimori a "humanitarian pardon" on Dec. 24 for medical reasons, adding that the sentence was "excessive" for the convicted crimes.
RELATED:
Families of Victims Reject Fujimori Pardon, Vow to Demand its Annulment
Doctors who examined him said, “Fujimori suffers from a progressive, degenerative and incurable illness and ... prison conditions represent a grave risk to his life." He has been a Lima hospital since being pardoned.
In a matter of days, the president’s Minister of Interior, Carlos Basombrio, and Minister of Culture, Salvador del Solar have both stepped down in protest of the executive order. Basombrio was replaced yesterday by Vicente Romero.
At least five other lower-ranking officials in Kuczynski's government have also resigned, including lawmakers Alberto de Belaunde and Vicente Zeballos, the head of Peru’s Human Rights Office for the Justice Ministry Roger Rodriguez and the Secretary of the Commission for Peace, Reparations and Reconciliation, Daniel Sanchez.
Massive protests and police repression have broken out in Lima in light of the illegal pardon.
Kuczynski’s pardon comes just after Congress narrowly voted to not impeach the president for receiving nearly US$800,000 in kickbacks from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. The failed impeachment is seen as a political maneuver by Fujimori’s son, Kenji, to salvage the president so he could then pardon the ailing convict, a claim Kuczynski continues to deny.
Newsletter
