MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Peruvian president hospitalized yet again

Fujimori suffers recurrent respiratory, neurological and hypertension problems

Peru's prisons bureau Sunday reported former President Alberto Fujimori had been hospitalized as a precaution due to a blood pressure issue amid a recurrent heart condition.

 The 83-year-old former leader, who has already served 15 of his 25-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity, suffered a drop in blood pressure and irregular heartbeat, the National Penitentiary Institute posted on Twitter. Other sources added Fujimori showed signs of atrial fibrillation at dawn.

It was the second time in just over a month that Fujimori needed hospitalization. On March 3 he also suffered a strong arrhythmia that raised fears for his life. Eleven days later, he was discharged and returned to the police base, where he is the only inmate.

Fujimori has been convicted for the killing of 25 people in two massacres perpetrated by an Army death squad during his tenure as part of the so-called war on terrorism (1980-2000): Barrios Altos (1991) and La Cantuta (1992), which qualified as crimes against humanity because they were considered homicides with aggravation, serious injuries, and kidnapping with aggravation, according to judgments by the IHR-Court in 2001 and 2006.

In 2017, then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski granted Fujimori a pardon. However, ten months later, it was annulled by the Supreme Court. Earlier this year, Peru's Constitutional Court (CC) ruled the pardon was valid but he has not been released from jail due to objections from relatives of the massacres victims and other human rights groups.

Fujimori's new health episode Sunday came a week after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered Peru to “refrain from implementing” the CC's ruling. Lima has said it would abide by any IACHR decision.

After undergoing heart surgery in October, Fujimori suffers recurrent respiratory, neurological and hypertension problems.