Alberto Fujimori: Inter-American Court Sets Peruvian State Deadline to Send Observations on Judgment in Favor of Former President

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights notified Peru that it has a deadline for submitting its observations on the ruling of the Constitutional Court (TC) in favor of the release of former President Alberto Fujimori.

In this sense, the Peruvian State has, at most, until March 25, to report on “the provisional measures and immediately inform the Constitutional Court”.

“This occurs in the context of the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases, after the victims' families and representatives presented provisional measures in the face of the possible release of the former president in the coming days, who is convicted of serious human rights violations,” the rest of the message reads.

This means that the IACHR admits to the request of victims of Barrios Altos and La Cantuta to be processed and requires the Peruvian State to comply with reporting on the TC ruling that has granted the convicted Fujimori Fujimori freedom.

In this regard, the former Minister of Culture, Gisela Ortiz explained that, after the deadline, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will respond if it accedes to the request for a hearing to observe the ratification of the former president's pardon.

“Once the hearing is held, which can be virtual or face-to-face in Costa Rica, the Court takes time to issue a decision. We know that these decisions do not go directly to the Constitutional Court, but to the Peruvian State as a whole, which is the one to whom they give recommendations on how it should act to guarantee the right. This can usually take 15 days or a month longer,” said the other representative of the relatives in the La Cantuta case.

“In the meantime, we have to continue mobilizing for the members of the Constitutional Court, who have acted illegally, to realize that there is also a vigilant citizen here who is attentive to their decisions and rejects such attitudes negotiated with fujimorism,” he continued.

For its part, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in a statement on its Twitter account, noted that the TC ruling hampered compliance with the obligations of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court of Human Rights).

“IACHR expresses deep concern over the decision of the Constitutional Court ordering the release of Alberto Fujimori. It affects the victims' right to justice and hinders compliance with international obligations of the Inter-American Court in the Cantuta and Barrios Altos cases,” he said in a tweet.

He also indicated that “crimes against humanity become a concern of the international community, constituting a very serious offense to human dignity and a flagrant denial of the fundamental principles enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights, so they must not go unpunished.”

It should be noted that Fujimori Fujimori will leave Barbadillo prison in the coming days to be completely free thanks to the reinstatement of the pardon granted on December 24, 2017 by then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski for humanitarian reasons.

“There are administrative procedures that must be followed. I estimate that Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week he will be released. We are waiting for the notification accordingly, but some coordination is being done on administrative issues,” said the defense of the former head of state, lawyer Elio Riera.

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