Supporters of Alberto Fujimori meet this week in Barbadillo prison (Lima). SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA (Portal)
The alleged release of Peru’s former president, Alberto Fujimori, has once again shocked the country. The Constitutional Court issued a five-page order that, according to its authorities, allows the orange patriarch, sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2009 for crimes against humanity, to leave Barbadillo prison in Lima. This is a clarification complaint – a mechanism to clarify a concept or correct an error in sentences – filed by the Attorney General of Justice and Fujimori’s defense attorney following a judgment of the TC dated March 17, 2022, which has the effect of an order restored that Fujimori was granted a humanitarian pardon in 2017.
However, in April 2022, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the Peruvian state should refrain from implementing the provisions of the Constitutional Court. The IACHR is a supranational judicial body and Peru is a state party, therefore it has an international obligation to abide by its measure. However, both the president of the TC, Francisco Morales Saravia, and its vice president, Luz Pacheco, have stated that the release occurs because “the sentences imposed by their institution are a matter of judgment and cannot be annulled.”
In addition, Pacheco assures that non-compliance with the rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will have no consequences, since only a minority adheres to them. “Only 15% of the Court’s rulings are implemented. In other words, states often do not comply because they believe that this decision exceeds their jurisdiction,” he says. The truth is that the Constitutional Court has transferred all responsibility to the execution judge Fernando Vicente Fernández Tapia, of the first preparatory court of inquiry of Ica, so that he can proceed according to “his powers”. That is, apply the TC’s decision granting habeas corpus or follow the IACHR’s guidelines.
Fernández Tapia is in the eye of the storm, and his background doesn’t help. The judge registers disciplinary sanctions with the Judicial Control Office. One of the most serious occurred in 2016 due to the alleged illegal release of a former member of the Sagrada Casta de Ica, an organization under investigation for a number of crimes: murder, aggravated robbery, illicit association to commit a crime, illegal Collection of aquatic life. and drug trafficking. In 2014, Fernández Tapia was accused of subterfuge – a crime attributed to the judge or authority who issues an arbitrary order in an administrative or judicial matter, knowing that it violates the law – for failing to submit the Case Sánchez Paredes, a family, had promoted clan that is involved in money laundering.
Meanwhile, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights reminded the Peruvian state in a statement of the validity of its decision not to enforce the release of Alberto Fujimori, considered the intellectual author of the Barrios massacres. Altos and La Cantuta during his government in the 1990s. In addition, they were given until December 6 to submit their observations.
On the other hand, the Center for Justice and International Law criticized the Constitutional Court’s lack of clarity. “He failed to make a clear and unambiguous statement. The President of the TC has spoken in the media and has tried to clarify this ambiguity, pointing out that “the release of Fujimori is indeed moving forward” and that “it is up to the authorities of the National Penitentiary Institute to proceed”, but the concrete The fact is that this is not provided for in his decision.”
Follow all international information on Facebook and Xor in our weekly newsletter.