Marianella Ledesma on the TC ruling that freed Alberto Fujimori: “It is a sentence that validates impunity”

Alberto Fujimori will leave the prison in the next few hours Barbadillo where he had been serving prison for more than a decade. His departure will take place after the ruling of the Constitutional Court reversing the nullity of the pardon granted at the end of 2017, this thanks to the support of three judges and the deciding vote of the president of the institution, Augusto Ferrero. For her part, Marianella Ledesma, who voted against, did not hesitate to show her rejection of the controversial decision of the TC.

For the judge and former president of the Court, it is “a sentence that validates impunity and, above all, that breaks the institutionality of the decisions of the Constitutional Court”. During a recent interview with the Epicentro portal, he recalled that the pardon process was born out of a negotiation between former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and those congressmen who could save it from the first vacancy attempt among which the then parliamentarian Kenji Fujimori stood out.

“What message is given to citizens, to young people? That the end justifies the means. If I want to free my dad and if I can reach an agreement to protect the vacancy, I give you my votes and in good time. That is the message that has been given and that has been shielded from the court. The result of the administrative resolution, which is being revived, is the result of criminal activity. I'm not saying it, says the Public Ministry,” he added about the effects that the decision would have on the collective imagination.

For Ledesma, the decision of the Tribunal, led by half of its members and the final vote of its president, shielded the crime of the negotiations that allowed Alberto Fujimori's pardon. “We have not only reached a social anomie where citizens deviate from compliance with social and legal norms with deviant behavior, but we have now elevated this social anomie to an institutional anomie of the Constitutional Court,” he added.

WHY WAS THE PARDON GRANTED?

On assuming the presidency, President Kuczynski encountered overwhelming opposition in the Congress of the republic led by his opponent in the second round of elections, Keiko Fujimori. After questioning and censorship by its ministers, the plenary came to discuss the presidential vacancy, a process that was close to materializing were it not for the support of a dozen congressmen who were members of the opposition, but who responded to the instructions of their leader's brother, Congressman Kenji Fujimori.

Saved from the impeachment, the president surprised with the announcement of Alberto Fujimori's pardon a few hours after the 2017 Christmas Eve. While demonstrations were reported, the former ruler managed to leave the prison and move to the home where he was surrounded by his family. However, weeks later, the appearance of videos showing the alleged purchase of votes to avoid vacancy damaged the situation of the then Head of State, who was forced to resign.

On October 4, 2018, the Supreme Court revoked the pardon granted to Alberto Fujimori and Alberto Fujimori had to return to prison. Due to his state of health, he stayed in the clinic for several weeks and for the last few years he has been making constant visits to health centers due to his physiological problems. However, through a habeas corpus filed with the Constitutional Court, the Court's ruling was reversed, thus releasing Fujimori.

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