Peru
Former president faces 25-year sentencePosted Apr 18 2009
Seventeen years after the kidnapping of prominent journalist Gustavo Gorriti, Peru’s former President Alberto Fujimori was convicted April 7 of human rights violations relating to the crime, Bloomberg reports.
Fujimori, 70, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty on four charges, including the journalist kidnapping, ordering a military death squad massacring 25 people on two separate occasions, and another kidnapping of a businessman during his 1990-2000 presidency. Fujimori’s lawyer said he would appeal.
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ Carlos Lauría welcomed the conviction, highlighting the abduction of Gorriti. “Fujimori’s conviction is an important step in the fight against impunity in attacks on journalists, particularly in Peru where public officials suspected of masterminding the murder of at least two journalists have gone unpunished,” Lauría said.
John Walsh, an analyst with a Washington-based research group on Latin America, told Bloomberg that the conviction of a South American president could implicate other former leaders in the pursuit of human rights violations.
“It will send an important signal to leaders in the region,” Walsh said. “It will help the region take stock of the fact that no one is above the law.” Bolivia’s Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and Ecuador’s Abdala Bucaram are two other former presidents wanted by their respective nations since Fujimori’s trial began in December 2007.
The ex-president’s daughter, congresswoman Keiko Fujimori, a candidate for the 2011 presidential elections in Peru, led hundreds of his supporters outside police headquarters. She has said she would pardon her father if she is elected.