Peru’s ex-president Fujimori released after controversial pardon
Peru’s ex-president Alberto Fujimori was wheeled out of a Lima hospital as a free man following a controversial pardon by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
A frail-looking Fujimori, 79, held up a hand to wave to supporters as aides rolled him out the main entrance of Lima’s Centenario Clinic in a wheelchair, before he was whisked away in a convoy of vehicles accompanied by his lawmaker son Kenji, AFP wrote.
Fujimori was pardoned days after Kenji and a raft of Fujimorist lawmakers abstained from voting on Kuczynski’s impeachment in what was seen by many as a backroom deal to save the president from corruption charges.
The December 24 announcement prompted a wave of protest in Peru. Fujimori was released after serving less than half of a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses.
UN human rights experts condemned the pardon as politically motivated and said it was a slap in the face to victims of his brutal rule from 1990-2000.
A court held him responsible for the killings of 25 supposed guerrillas and sympathizers in 1991 and 1992. It sentenced him in 2009 to 25 years in jail.
Relatives of victims have condemned the pardon, but many Peruvians admire him for his ruthless campaign to put down uprisings by leftist guerrillas, and supporters have hailed the decision to free him.