Alberto Fujimori: today there will be a request for an impediment to leave the country against him

The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of Alberto Fujimori in reversing the sentence that overturned the pardon granted at the end of 2017. However, the former governor's judicial problems have not ended as he now faces a request to prevent him from leaving the country filed by Senior Prosecutor Pedro Orihuela of the First National Superior Criminal Prosecutor's Office. The 18-month order relates to the Pativilca case of which Fujimori is a part.

This request, which seeks the release of the prisoner Fujimori to continue in Peru, will be reviewed on Thursday, March 24, starting at 8:30 a.m. by the Fourth Superior National Criminal Chamber Specialized in Organized Crime, presided over by Judge Miluska Cano. It is hoped that with this measure, the person convicted of the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta massacres will also respond to the accusations of mediated authorship of the Pativilca case.

“He has said that he will be in Peru and one way to prove it is to break into all the necessary exit impediments,” Fujimori's lawyer, César Nakazaki, said on his departure from the Barbadillo prison where the prisoner is waiting for the official conviction of the TC to process his release.

It should be recalled that John Calderón Ríos, Toribio Ortiz Aponte, Felandro Castillo Manrique, Pedro Aguero Rivera, Ernesto Arias Velásquez and Cesar Rodríguez Esquivel are the victims of the Pativilca case. Citizens who were falsely accused of being terrorists and abducted, tortured and killed by the Colina Group in the early morning of February 6, 1992. The prosecution has asked for 25 years in prison for Alberto Fujimori. Among the other 24 persons accused are Vladimiro Montesinos, former army commander general Nicolás Hermoza Ríos; Carlos Pichilingue Guevara, administrative head of the Colina group; Santiago Martín Rivas, among others, for qualified homicide and illicit association.

REACTIONS TO THE FAILURE OF THE CT

Eloy Espinoza-Saldaña, one of the judges who voted against the TC ruling, warned of the effects it could have from international organizations such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. “If the Inter-American Court wishes, on April 7 it can override the sentence of the TC (which validates Fujimori's pardon), or it can propose a measure to analyze Fujimori's situation because the terminally ill person is released from prison to be able to go to a hospital and try to manage his livelihood there,” the magistrate said during a interview with The Republic.

“The Constitutional Court's decision to release Mr. Fujimori and restore a presidential pardon granted to him in 2017 appears to be inconsistent with international human rights standards that restrict the use of pardon in cases of crimes against humanity,” rights experts said human rights of the UN.

“Unless justified by reasons clearly acceptable under domestic and international law, the annulment of the effects of the 25-year sentence against Fujimori would be a serious blow to justice and the rule of law, and a violation of the right to justice of victims and their families,” they added.

So far, no resolution has been issued formalizing the release of Alberto Fujimori. Until then, he must remain in the Barbadillo prison, according to the statements of his lawyer. On the other hand, his daughter Keiko Fujimori has confirmed that they plan to keep their father within the national territory and his family very closely.

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