Alberto Fujimori pardon: Former President could return to jail in three months

After it became known that the Constitutional Court (TC) declared habeas corpus founded in favor of Alberto Fujimori and restored the effects of the humanitarian pardon that granted by former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in December 2017, Carlos Rivera, lawyer for the victims of the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases, announced that they would once again go to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IDH) to seek justice and that the person convicted of crimes of qualified homicide, enforced disappearance, aggravated kidnapping, corruption, etc., should be returned to prison.

However, he explained that there are two ways to reverse or annul the TC ruling: for the Executive to annul the pardon that same power of the State gave in 2017 or to go to the Inter-American Court to reverse the TC's ruling

CANCELLATION OF PARDON BY THE EXECUTIVE

The first way would be for President Pedro Castillo to annul the decision that the Executive made in December 2017 and which gave Alberto Fujimori a pardon.

“It could be done by the rank of laws. Just as Congress can repeal a law that it itself has issued, if the supreme resolution is issued by the President of the Republic, in an admirable way, it can also (annul) it, not necessarily the same president who issued it,” explained Carlo Rivera on Canal N

However, he indicated that such a decision could be questioned or qualified as “political interference”, since it would occur precisely after the TC ruled in favor of reinstating Fujimori's pardon.

VIA LA CORTE I/A

The second way, which Rivera announced that they have already activated, is to go to the Inter-American Court. The ruling could take less time than the one issued in May 2018, when it ordered that the Peruvian State review the legality of the pardon granted to Fujimori, which caused Fujimori to return to prison.

“In the previous judgment the Court was delayed five months (...) In the case of a matter on which the Court has already decided, the deadlines will be shorter,” he said.

“The Court, without being aware of this issue, had already convened a compliance supervision hearing in the Barrios Altos case, but only to verify some issues pending reparations,” he added, saying that the Court could rule in three months.

5 A 6 MESES

For César Nakazaki, Alberto Fujimori's lawyer, if the Inter-American Court rules against Alberto Fujimori, Alberto Fujimori would return to pressure and his defense would once again bring a Habeas Corpus appeal to the Constitutional Court to seek his release. “We would still be on an eternal clock,” he told Canal N.

In addition, he pointed out that the Inter-American Court's ruling could take between 6 and 5 months in which Fujimori could return to prison to serve his sentence ending in 2032.

TC MEMBER OPINA

On the other hand, TC judge Espinosa Saldaña considered that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) it could reverse the ruling that declared habeas corpus founded and that will free Alberto Fujimori

“When the pardon of Kuczynski's government in 2017 was lifted, with the support, as we have later seen, of some ministers, the case went under review to the Inter-American Court, which ordered a new ruling to the Supreme Court that has been given and which the IACHR has been following up,” he told Canal N.

In addition, he said that, from March 16 to April 8, the Inter-American Court is in session and that one of the issues on its agenda is the hearing to supervise compliance with the Barrios Altos case, for which Alberto Fujimori was sentenced. He indicated that the lawyer for the victims of Fujimori (Carlos Rivera) could request a precautionary measure for Fujimori to return to prison.

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