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Peru government, rights groups hail conviction of ex-president Fujimori

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The conviction of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori on Tuesday was met with widespread approval from the current Peruvian government and human rights organizations. Peruvian Prime Minister Yehuda Simon said that the verdict highlighted the country's judicial autonomy. Amnesty International trial observer Javier Zuniga expressed the hope that the trial and conviction are "just the first of many trials in both Latin America and throughout the world," characterizing the conviction as a "crucial milestone in the struggle against impunity." Human Rights Watch senior Americas researcher Maria McFarland, also observing the trial, declared that "the Peruvian court has shown the world that even former heads of state cannot expect to get away with serious crimes," and said that the conviction is part of the global trend towards accountability. The Washington Office on Latin America also applauded the independence and impartiality of the court. In Peru, the Association for Human Rights (APRODEH) expressed satisfaction with the conviction and characterized it as the product of the persistent struggle of the victims' family members pushing the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases over the past 17 years. In contrast, the pro-Fujimori political coalition Fuerza 2011 on Monday issued preemptive remarks by Fujimori's daughter Keiko Fujimori, declaring that unless Fujimori was absolved, the trial would prove to be a vindictive show put on by the very people who believed in terrorism as a political means. Keiko Fujimori also said that she believes the condemnation will only strengthen popular support for the coalition in the 2011 presidential elections. Fujimori, who maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, was convicted on charges of approving the November 1991 killing of 15 people in Lima's Barrios Altos neighborhood and the July 1992 kidnapping and murder of 10 people from Lima's La Cantuta University. He has since announced that he will appeal the decision. Also on Tuesday, the US National Security Archives posted declassified documents that were used during the trial as evidence, and which came from US officials reporting on the rise of government sponsored death squads in Peru.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 08, 2009 (boomark / email).