Peru’s ex-President Fujimori released from prison after 16 years

To his supporters, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori saved Peru from terrorism and economic collapse, while his critics see him as an authoritarian who committed atrocities and abused democracy during a decade-long rule in the 1990s, during which his government battled the Shining Path guerrillas.
The son of Japanese immigrants, Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in 2009 for the massacre of 25 people in 1991 and 1992, including a child, who were gunned down by a clandestine military squad.
On Wednesday, following the restoration of a 2017 Christmas eve pardon, he was released from prison, despite criticisms from victims’ families and the regional human rights court.
Fujimori’s doctors and relatives say the 85-year-old suffered from stomach ulcers, weight loss, hypertension and tongue cancer.
“Please don’t kill me. If I go back to prison my heart won’t take it, it’s too weak to go through the same thing again. Don’t sentence me to death,” Fujimori said in October 2018, months before he returned to prison after the initial pardon.
The release of Fujimori, who spent his time incarcerated gardening and painting, leaves two former presidents in prison: Alejandro Toledo, under investigation for corruption, and Pedro Castillo, who illegally tried to dissolve Congress a year ago.