LIMA – A Peruvian judge has annulled the medical pardon for former strongman Alberto Fujimori and ordered him sent back to prison.
Ex-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardoned Fujimori, who ruled as a dictator during the 1990s after suspending the Constitution, on humanitarian grounds last Christmas Eve. In 2009, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes including the killing of 25 people by a military death squad that prosecutors said Mr. Fujimori had created.
Kuczynski’s critics said the president had offered the reprieve as part of a deal to avoid being impeached by his political rivals.
Peru’s ex-President Fujimori to be tried for 1992 killings despite recent pardon
Kuczynski stepped down from the office in March following a corruption scandal.
In a statement on Twitter, the country’s Justice Department said on Wednesday that one of its judges had “issued orders to locate and capture Alberto Fujimori so he would be returned to the penitentiary.”
Juez giró las órdenes de ubicación y captura contra el expresidente Fujimori a fin de que sea reingresado al establecimiento penitenciario que designe la autoridad penitenciaria. 2/2 https://t.co/ZwOofNENwW
— Poder Judicial Perú (@Poder_Judicial_) October 3, 2018
Fujimori would comply with the orders for his re-arrest once he received the warrant, according to his lawyer.
The dual Japanese-Peruvian national Fujimori ruled Peru with an iron fist from 1990 to 2000. After leaving power, he spent time in Japan and then traveled to Chile, where he was arrested in 2005. After being extradited to Peru in 2007, he was sentenced to six years in prison for abuse of power. In 2009, he received an additional 25-year-sentence for abuses and killings committed under his rule.
Last year, his medical pardon sparked riots in Lima, and resignations by government politicians.
Another minister resigns after Peru pardons ex-president Fujimori
