Alberto Fujimori: When will the former president of Peru leave prison?

The Constitutional Court (TC) ruled in favor of releasing former President Alberto Fujimori, who is currently in the Barbadillo prison, located in the district of Ate, where he was serving a 25-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity.

Although Fujimori Fujimori has already been released, he will remain in prison for a few more days. The defense of the former president, César Nakazaki, explained that, due to bureaucratic processes, his release will not be given immediately and will take longer than expected.

Upon his release from Ate prison, the lawyer indicated that, as tomorrow is Friday, the former president's official notice of release could only be sent on Monday to the National Penitentiary Institute of Peru (INPE).

“It is up to the TC to officiate the supreme criminal execution judge, who is the one who gives the order of freedom. He is now the supreme judge of Criminal Execution who will order that the effects of the pardon granted by former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski be restored,” he told the press.

“I just spoke to President Fujimori. Now what is appropriate is that the judge of the order of liberty, calculated that between tomorrow and Monday the office of liberty must be sent. So between Monday or Tuesday, INPE will order the release of prison,” he added.

For his part, Elio Riera Garro, also Alberto Fujimori's lawyer, agreed with his colleague that the former head of state would possibly be released from prison only on March 22, since it is a procedure that takes time.

“Mr. Fujimori needed a fair and adequate process according to the law. Administrative procedures are going to take a few hours. For today's time, it's a bit complicated, but the process will take between 24 and 48 hours,” he told the press outside the Barbadillo prison.

“We are running on these issues, we agree with Dr. Nakasaki that on Monday or Tuesday the president could be released. But I am going to my office to expedite the procedures from today,” Riera concluded.

ANÍBAL TORRES REGRETS FUJIMORI'S PARDON

The president of the Council of Ministers, Aníbal Torres, regretted the decision of the Constitutional Court and criticized that its operation “only costs a lot of money for the country and serves only to violate the Constitution and the law”. He even revealed that his position is that he must disappear.

“This shows that in Peru the most experienced criminals have fundamental rights. The whole of Peru knows that this man was convicted of very serious crimes, he is not only sentenced for murder but also for aggravated kidnapping. Unfortunately, the Constitutional Court becomes the champion of impunity for big criminals [...] I have always ruled that this body must disappear,” said the premier.

“What the TC does is make it known that it guarantees impunity for criminals with a certain power, where are the families of Barrios Altos, La Cantuta, serious crimes, where they were kidnapped, burned alive, buried clandestinely. Such a decision cannot be made for crimes of this nature. (...) This body should not exist, it must disappear, we must change the concentrated control of CT to diffuse control, that is, that its functions are done by the Supreme Court,” he added.

Along these lines, Torres said that it was only fair for Fujimori Fujimori to serve his sentence in prison, regardless of whether he reaches the end of his days in a prison. In addition, he emphasized that he never paid the compensation imposed, despite the “money he took when he was president”.

“There are several prisoners who die in prison, that's nothing new. Prisoners must serve their sentence and in Fujimori's case, he had a golden prison. He had to serve his sentence or pay compensation,” he said.

“Fujimori had to pay compensation. Don't tell me you don't have any money, where do you have the money you took when you were president, how many times did you travel abroad with suitcases on the plane. (...) There are three characters there (in the TC) who have done this to benefit one of the most criminal people the country has ever had and who hasn't paid a single cent for civil liability,” he continued.

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