Alberto Fujimori case: “The mandates of the IACHR must be fulfilled,” says Carlos Rivera

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights today asked the Peruvian State to refrain from executing the release of Alberto Fujimori, following the ruling of the Constitutional Court (TC) that ordered the return of the humanitarian pardon in favor of the former president.

In a letter addressed to the specialized supranational prosecutor of Peru, Carlos Miguel Reaño Balarezo, they indicated that the decision was adopted today by the plenary of the Inter-American Court in the framework of its 147th Regular Session of Sessions.

The document also states that the measure would be applied on a temporary basis, until the Inter-American Court resolves the request for provisional measures submitted in the cases of Barrios Altos and La Cantuta regarding the eventual release of Fujimori.

In this regard, the lawyer for the victims of Barrios Altos and La Cantuta Carlos Rivera commented that this was an almost inevitable event. “From the very first moment we became aware of the TC's decision, there was a consensus that the measure is not only illegal, but also that it does not have any kind of basis, neither legal, nor constitutional and less of international law,” he said.

He added that when the sentence came out a couple of days ago, it could be said that Judges Blume, Sardón and Ferrero had written a document that had no arguments whatsoever and that it had no chance of succeeding in what they were arranging, “especially since they were opposing the IACHR's jurisprudence, resolutions that the court had issued on the same subject of the pardon of the year 2018. It was a kind of resolution that was only causing international ridicule and tremendous damage.”

Rivera said the IACHR has responded favorably to the request made to it on March 18 as petitioners in the cases of Barrios Altos and La Cantuta to issue a provisional measure. And he assured that the provisional measure that the Court has just issued is that the Peruvian State refrain from issuing Alberto Fujimori's freedom.

Beyond the fact that this is a precautionary measure, before issuing a decision in the last few days, for counsel this is a categorical ruling by the Court not to execute that order, “because it is a decision contrary to the provisions and judgments that it itself has issued”.

Rivera said that what could happen is that the Court will end up convening to resolve this issue definitively to a compliance hearing, which would be held at the next session in April.

ON COMPLIANCE

“The IACHR is an international court of justice, to which we are conventionally subject. Mandates must be fulfilled. Given the seriousness of the facts, La Cantuta and Barrios Altos, which are historical cases, it would be a very serious mistake for the State to fail to comply with an express mandate being issued by an international tribunal. Peru is a country that has always fulfilled these mandates,” Rivera said.

The lawyer specified that the IACHR must have notified the Peruvian State via the Foreign Ministry that it should be transferred to the appropriate bodies such as the judiciary and the INPE. The request has immediate execution.