Ex-Peruvian President Fujimori, Jailed For Mass Murders, Released After 16 Years: Report

The Peru strongman was convicted in 2009 of ordering the massacre of 25 people in 1991 and 1992 during his government's battle against a guerilla outfit.

Fujimori waves at the supporters after he left the prison in the outskirts of Lima, Peru. ( Image Source :Getty )

Peru's former President Alberto Fujimori, who was sentenced to prison for 25 years for human rights abuses during his rule in the 1990s, was released on Wednesday under humanitarian grounds, a Reuters report said. Fujimori, who served approximately 16 years of his jail term after being extradited from Chile in 2007, was released following a court's reinstatement of a controversial 2017 pardon.

The 85-year-old leader came out of the prison complex wearing a face mask and a breathing tube and was accompanied by his son and daughter. Fujimori, a right-wing career politician, was met by enthusiastic supporters, who viewed him as a saviour from terrorism and economic collapse.

"It was time for this injustice against Fujimori to end, thanks to him our country is on its feet," said Catalina Ponce, a Fujimori supporter waiting outside the prison, told Reuters.

However, critics argued that Fujimori undermined democracy and committed atrocities during his government's clash against the Shining Path guerrillas.

Fujimori remains a divisive figure in Peru. While his policies stabilised the economy and ended hyperinflation, his regime was involved in military intervention to dissolve Congress, rewriting the Constitution, and suppressing guerrilla violence.

The Peru strongman was convicted in 2009 of ordering the massacre of 25 people in 1991 and 1992 during his government's battle against the Shining Path.

In 2017, he was pardoned by then President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, paving the way for Fujimori to walk free for about nine months before a court declared it null. Last week, Peru's constitutional court restored the pardon.

The Massacres In 1990s 

In 1991, Fujimori allegedly orchestrated a massacre that took place in a impoverished Lima neighborhood. Masked soldiers indiscriminately shot and killed 15 individuals, including an 8-year-old child, who had gathered at a social gathering.

The following year, in 1992, a covert military unit abducted and murdered nine students and a professor from Enrique Guzmán y Valle University. Forensic specialists confirmed that the victims had been subjected to torture, shot in the back of the head, and their remains were burned before being concealed in graves. Operating under the guise of an architecture firm, this secret squad received financial backing from Fujimori’s government.

“We live in an orphanhood because we do not have institutions of any kind capable of defending us,” Gisela Ortiz, sister of one of the victims for whom Fujimori was convicted, told The Associated Press. “Peru gives the image of a country where the rights of victims are not guaranteed and where human rights issues have no importance.”