MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peru: Lower Court rules against releasing Fujimori

PPK's pardon had already been annulled in 2018

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori will remain incarcerated following Friday's ruling by a lower court in Ica declaring inadmissible a Constitutional Court decision allowing the reinstatement of the pardon once granted by Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard (PPK) in 2017.

“The First Preparatory Investigation Court of Ica declares the execution of sentence No. 78-2022, dated March 17, 2022, specifically the release of Alberto Fujimori, inadmissible because the habeas corpus petition was not upheld,” the Judiciary explained on X.

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Francisco Morales had stressed Wednesday that the authorities should “proceed to the immediate release” of Fujimori, despite the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruling otherwise.

Friday's seven-page decision states that the habeas corpus petition was not reviewed because the court lacked jurisdiction under the last paragraph of Article 27 of the New Procedural Code. The Ica court also ordered “that all the proceedings be returned to the Constitutional Court so that it may proceed in accordance with the law regarding the execution of the favorable sentence issued in this habeas corpus process.”

PPK's pardon had already been annulled in 2018 after the IACHR asked the Peruvian State to guarantee the administration of justice for the victims of the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta massacres, for which Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Hours before the Ica judge's decision, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed its concern that the TC's resolution could lead to Fujimori's release from prison.

Read also: Peru: IACHR steps in to keep Fujimori in jail