31 de March de 2022 Press Release

Imminent release of Alberto Fujimori in Peru: organizations request urgent measures and hearing before Inter-American Court of Human Rights to protect victims’ rights

Decision on Fujimori’s release to be made by the Peruvian Constitutional Court today.

Lima and Washington, March 17, 2022. On the night of March 16, organizations* representing the victims of the La Cantuta and Barrios Altos cases once again appealed to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IA Court) to request its intervention in light of the imminent release of Alberto Fujimori, which the Peruvian Constitutional Court will decide today. The victims were neither informed about this situation nor heard by the Peruvian Court. If Fujimori is released, there is no further judicial recourse in Peru to guarantee their rights.

Yesterday afternoon, Peruvian press reported that the Peruvian Constitutional Court is likely to decide to free Fujimori; this action originated in an appeal filed by Fujimori’s defense team seeking to reinstate the fraudulent pardon granted to him in 2017, which the Inter-American Court and the Peruvian Supreme Court previously ruled against.

This is not the first time that the victims of these cases have turned to the Inter-American Court in the face of Fujimori’s attempts to violate their rights. The IA Court held a hearing in February 2018 and issued a resolution on May 30, 2018, in which it recognized that the pardon granted to Fujimori is incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights and ordered the Peruvian State to take constitutional measures to evaluate its decision. In 2018, the Peruvian justice system complied with the decision and Fujimori returned to prison; however, this imminent decision by the Constitutional Court would represent a major setback and international non-compliance with the order by the Peruvian State.

For this reason, the organizations representing the victims in the aforementioned cases requested provisional measures from the IA Court, as the requirements of gravity, urgency and irreparability are met due to the imminent release of Fujimori, and with it, the elimination of his remaining debts with the Peruvian justice system for the serious crimes he committed. In addition, we request that the IA Court order the Peruvian State to avoid backsliding in the fulfillment of its international obligations, because if the Constitutional Court adopts this decision, it will guarantee impunity for Fujimori.

Likewise, we request that the IA Court immediately convene, in its next period of sessions in the coming weeks, a public hearing to give the victims of the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases the possibility to be heard, as the Inter-American Court itself has indicated is necessary. Additionally, we request that if the release of Alberto Fujimori is ordered, the IA Court issue a resolution ordering nullification based on its jurisprudence and its prior decision on this pardon issued on May 30, 2018.

We reiterate that our repudiation of this possibility of release also responds to the fact that further judicial appeals are exhausted at the national level. There would be no other possible recourse for the victims of serious human rights violations, including forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions, and their relatives. This process advanced by the Peruvian Constitutional Court has not been transparent with the victims, who have not been provided with spaces for participation, clearly and directly affecting their rights.

CONTEXT:

The organizations representing the victims are: the Pro-Human Rights Association (APRODEH), the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the Legal Defense Institute (IDL), the Ecumenical Foundation for Development and Peace (FEDEPAZ), the Human Rights Commission (COMISEDH) and the National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDHH).

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued its Judgments on the merits in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases, both against Peru, on March 14, 2001 and November 29, 2006, respectively. In both judgments, the Court held Peru responsible for the violation of the rights to life, personal integrity, judicial guarantees, and protection, among others, established in the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR).

The request to the Inter-American Court is the last chance to ensure that this right is not violated again and definitively. We hope that the IA Court will immediately order the measures requested and convene a hearing to ensure that the Peruvian Constitutional Court respects the rights of the victims and refrains from granting the release of Alberto Fujimori, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases, as well as the kidnapping of Gustavo Gorriti and Samuel Dyer.