On 19 May, Ms Keiko Fujimori, former presidential candidate and daughter of the former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori (1990–2000), filed a writ of habeas corpus citing lack of due process and requesting that the verdict be nullified and Fujimori released. The first verdict referred to in the writ was delivered on 7 April 2009 by the First Special Criminal Court of the Superior Court of Justice. Upon appeal by Fujimori’s defence team, this verdict was unanimously upheld by the Superior Court of Justice’s Permanent Criminal Chamber on 30 December 2009.
Attention should also be drawn to the fact that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment on this matter some years ago, in the trial of the Peruvian state for the killings at Barrios Altos and La Cantuta, which it found to be crimes against humanity. This was the same phraseology used by Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal, in accordance with Peru’s obligations under international law.
FIDH and APRODEH welcome the decision of Judge Arnaldo Sánchez to find the writ of habeas corpus without merit in the first instance, and trust that, in addressing the appeal presented by Keiko Fujimori on 26 May 2017, the Peruvian judiciary will proceed with impartiality, within the framework of Peruvian law and the international obligations entered into by that state.