Peru's Constitutional Court orders release of ex-president Alberto Fujimori
Peru’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday ordered the release of former president Alberto Fujimori, 85, who has been serving a 25-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity committed on his watch.
A court ruling seen by AFP ordered the “immediate” release under supervision of Fujimori, who was president from 1990 to 2000. He has been jailed since 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people were killed in supposed anti-terrorist operations.
In February, Fujimori was admitted to hospital suffering from an irregular heartbeat.
Tuesday’s ruling reinstated a pardon granted to the ex-president for humanitarian reasons – which was revoked by the Supreme Court in 2019.
Last year, the Constitutional Court again ordered his release on humanitarian grounds, but the Inter-American Court of Human Rights urged Peru not to free him, and Lima agreed.
Fujimori was impeached in November 2000 on grounds of “moral incapacity” and was accused of corruption.
He had fled to Japan the previous day and resigned by fax.
Tuesday’s ruling cannot be appealed.
(AFP)