Supranational Prosecutor after Alberto Fujimori's pardon: “It's going to have to be a partial report”

The supranational prosecutor, Carlos Reaño Balarezo, agent and representative of Peru to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court of Human Rights) noted that a report on the restitution of humanitarian pardon has not been published and that “it will have to be a partial document”. All this as a result of the pardon granted to the former President of the Republic, Alberto Fujimori, who has been in poor health for several weeks.

“This is going to have to be a partial report given that, so far, the Constitutional Court's judgment has not been published to have a little clarity; beyond the fact that the decision is known; about what it implies and the recitals of the TC, if the judgment of the Inter-American Court, the resolutions on compliance with the IC and some other additional considerations have been analyzed,” he told El Comercio.

“Once the ruling of the Constitutional Court is published , it will most likely be that a supplementary report will come out to the Inter-American Court informing it, but also analyzing the implications and consequences of the sentence,” he added.

For its part, he said that the Inter-American Court is being told about the request for provisional measures submitted by the representatives.

“The Inter-American Court, as is appropriate in an international dispute, transfers this request to the Peruvian State for its observations. The Inter-American Court has not adopted provisional measures at this time. Could it adopt them in the near future? that will already be the decision of the Court,” he said.

On these measures, he mentioned that enhanced supervision could be carried out, as he has done in other cases in the process of supervising the enforcement of sentences.

“It could subsequently issue, and most likely, a resolution supervising the enforcement of the sentence and in these three scenarios indicate to the State various aspects of the enforcement of the sentence in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta Case and the supervision of compliance with both cases, taking into consideration various elements: supreme resolution 281, the decision of the judiciary declaring the nullity or ineffect of this supreme resolution and the decision of the Constitutional Court in habeas corpus which would declare the Supreme Court nullity”, he continued along the same lines.

Regarding the response of the TC, he mentioned that the file of habeas corpus has been transferred. “The ruling is not yet public and the supranational prosecutor's office is not a party to that process and will not be notified because the one who will be notified will be the judiciary. So, the Constitutional Court's response is not extensive, so to speak, it is a response that carries information and the file,” he continued.

It also emphasizes that the Inter-American Court will eventually decide whether or not to grant provisional measures. “The Court is meeting in one session, it is not that it has met because these events happened. The Court could, at this session, determine urgent actions by the president and could then be validated by the Plenary of the Inter-American Court in provisional measures. The Inter-American Court could subsequently issue a resolution supervising compliance with the sentence and give some considerations there, as it did in May 2018 on the supervision of the enforcement of the sentence,” he commented.

“The Court may pronounce itself, as I said, whether or not to grant provisional measures in the terms requested or in the terms that the Court deems appropriate. It can also be pronounced in a resolution supervising compliance with the sentence indicating measures to be taken by the State such as enhanced supervision or possibly consider aspects of the Constitutional Court's ruling or the Supreme Decree that regains force”, he added.

“The Inter-American Court is going to have to give a definitive decision, at the request of the representatives (of the victims) and information to the Peruvian State, it is part of its obligation and supervision of compliance with the sentence,” he continued.

Finally, he stressed that the deadline for the Inter-American Court is approximately the year 2017, when Supreme Resolution 281 was published on December 24 granting humanitarian pardon to Mr. Alberto Fujimori. Given this situation, the representatives submitted several communications to the Inter-American Court and various briefs in December 2017.

“A public hearing was held on supervision of compliance with sentences in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta Cases on February 2, 2018, after which the Inter-American Court's decision is dated May 30, 2018, notified in June. So, we are talking about six months since the fact of the issuance of the Supreme Resolution (the pardon), three to four months from the hearing, but this is also a rank. There were situations where it has been in much less time, but there is no deadline”, he concluded.

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