Peruvian President Ollanta Humala indicated Wednesday that his government had received no formal request from former President Alberto Fujimori’s family for an official humanitarian pardon from the state. However, according to Fujimori’s lawyer, César Nakazaki, Fujimori is planning to ask for a pardon sometime this week, with legal documents expected to be submitted this Friday.
Fujimori is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights violations that occurred during his 1990-2000 presidency. The sentence was handed down in 2009 after Fujimori was linked to the massacre of 25 people by the Grupo Colina paramilitary death squad in the early 1990s and the kidnapping of a businessman and a journalist in 1992. About 70,000 people died in Peru’s internal conflict, which occurred as the government launched an offensive against the Maoist-inspired Shining Path rebels.
Fujimori, 74, is currently suffering from oral cancer and has undergone five operations since 1997, according to his daughter, Keiko Fujimori, who ran for president in 2011. In September, Fujimori’s family said that the former president would seek a humanitarian pardon. “I will continue to fight for my health, my liberty and my innocence,” the elder Fujimori said in a letter.
Humala has said he will not grant the former president a pardon unless he or his family expressly requests one. “There’s nothing written on this topic, and therefore, it’s not on the government’s agenda right now,” said Humala during a press conference at a hotel in Miraflores.
Fujimori’s son, Kenji Fujimori, said his father would not ask for forgiveness for crimes that he didn’t commit, but that he may be willing to admit he was at fault for certain “errors” during his administration.
The Fujimori family says that the former president is focusing on his health, but some Peruvian politicians have speculated that the elder Fujimori could re-enter politics in 2016. “For grave crimes against humanity, Fujimori was only sentenced to 25 years; there was no permanent disqualification [from politics]because the Public Ministry never asked for one,” said Congressman Heriberto Benítez.
