Peru ex-president Fujimori sent back to prison to finish out sentence News
© WikiMedia (Michael Coghlan)
Peru ex-president Fujimori sent back to prison to finish out sentence

Alberto Fujimori returned to prison Wednesday to finish out the remaining 13 years of his 25-year sentence for human rights crimes.

Fujimori, former president of Peru, has been in prison since 2009 for human rights crimes committed by death squads under his regime. Fujimori was pardoned for his health in 2017 by former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, but the pardon was overturned in 2018 by Peruvian Supreme Court Judge Hugo Nunez. Fujimori had checked himself into a hospital after his pardon and claimed that his health would not survive a return to prison, but a medical board discharged him from the hospital Wednesday. The head of Peru’s Penitentiary institute has stated that Fujimori will have access to a doctor during the day and round-the-clock nurses. Fujimori has returned to the Diroes prison where he had been serving out his sentence with a private suite and unlimited visitor privileges.

Fujimori has been a divisive figure with some crediting him with economic recovery and resistance against communist guerrillas while others find him to be a war criminal and corrupt politician for the abuses that occurred under his reign. Some including Peru’s current president Martin Vizcarra suggested Fujimori could serve out his sentence under house arrest, but this was rejected as many feared opening the door to house arrest appeals.