A communiqué from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) -of a serious tone, but less severe than those addressed to progressive governments in the opinion of jurists consulted- points out that the Peruvian Government was in contempt of its resolutions, in reference to the indication of not executing the pardon decreed in December 2017.

Therefore, the Court ordered a reinforced supervision on the obligation of the Peruvian State to investigate, judge and punish the human rights violations in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases, massacres of civilians for which Fujimori had been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The pronouncement reveals that the measure focuses especially on the pardon decreed by then President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in December 2017, for the sake of an understanding with the unreached Fujimori’s trend party, which had a parliamentary majority.

The pardon was annulled as illegal by the Supreme Court and validated in July 2022 by the Constitutional Court, after which the IACHR ordered that it must not be executed until the fulfillment of several requirements, such as a request for forgiveness from the prisoner to the families of those killed in the aforementioned massacres.

The IACHR ordered the Peruvian Government to present a detailed report, before March 4, on the fulfillment of the sentence for the massacres and other human rights violations that are crimes against humanity.

Carlos Rivera, lawyer for the families of the victims of the massacres for which Fujimori was condemned, said that the supranational court’s pronouncement was foreseeable, which he described as a strong warning to the Peruvian State for its lack of compliance.

ef/omr/npg/mrs