Inter-American Court orders Peru to refrain from releasing Alberto Fujimori in compliance with its treaty obligations

Lima – Washington, April 8, 2022. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights today ruled that Peru must refrain from releasing Alberto Fujimori in compliance with its treaty obligations. This occurred after the victims’ representatives requested the Court’s intervention on March 16 in light of the imminent release of Fujimori ordered by the Peruvian Constitutional Court. On March 30, 2022, the Inter-American Court temporarily ordered the Constitutional Court to refrain from releasing Fujimori and today confirms that Fujimori cannot be released.

The Inter-American Court conducted a thorough analysis of the Constitutional Court’s decision in Fujimori’s case and concluded that “the judgment issued by the Constitutional Court on March 17, 2022, which reinstated the effects of the pardon in favor of Alberto Fujimori, did not comply with the conditions determined by this Court in the Supervision Resolution of May 30, 2018 […] [A]s this judgment is contrary to what was established by this Court when interpreting and applying the American Convention, the State must refrain from implementing it in compliance with its conventional obligations.”

Regarding the permissibility of pardons, the Inter-American Court reiterated that, as it held in its 2018 ruling, “in cases of serious human rights violations, the legal measure or figure [to protect the health, life and integrity of a convicted person] must be the one that least restricts the victims’ right of access to justice […] and must be applied in very extreme cases and out of compelling necessity. This does not mean that the legal figure or measure that the State has to adopt is necessarily one that sets the convicted person free and, much less, that implies the extinction of the sentence,” without prejudice to adopting other alternative measures to safeguard Mr. Fujimori’s health.

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).

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