Fujimori family and foes face off over Peru verdict

1 ANSWERS

1. Saba
   

   The family of Peru's former president Alberto Fujimori on Wednesday blasted his conviction for death-squad crimes in the 1990s, as rights groups hailed his 25-year jail sentence.
   
   "My father is innocent," Fujimori's daughter, Peruvian congresswoman Keiko Fujimori, insisted to reporters in Lima the day after a court in the capital handed down its landmark judgment on the 70-year-old ex-leader.
   
   Satomi Kataoka, Fujimori's Japanese wife told AFP in Tokyo her husband was the victim of "a witch trial" in which his conviction was not substantiated by any evidence.
   
   "How could this happen? I'm totally shocked and boiling with anger," she said.
   
   The three-judge court found Fujimori had authorized an army death squad which killed 25 civilians in two bloodbaths in 1991 and 1992, and ordered the kidnapping of a businessman and a journalist in 1992.
   
   Fujimori, who proclaimed his innocence throughout his 15-month trial, said he would appeal. He argued his government quashed a two-decade insurgency by brutal leftist rebels, but denied ordering "dirty war" tactics.
   
   Human rights groups, several of whom had representatives present for the 16-month trial, said they believed Fujimori had been fairly judged.
   
   Amnesty International called Fujimori's conviction "a crucial milestone in the global struggle against impunity."
   
   "What this sentence implies is that the ends cannot justify the means," Michael Reed Hurtado from the International Center for Transitional Justice told AFP after attending the court verdict.
   
   The Swiss-based International Commission of Jurists said the court's decision "constitutes a new step for justice in Latin America and in the world: a former head of state, democratically elected, has been found guilty of crimes against humanity by a national court."
   
   In Peru, Fujimori's fate was greeted with equanimity by the majority of the population.
   
   Although 2,000 supporters held a protest immediately after the verdict on Tuesday, and pro-Fujimori graffiti was painted on walls near the special police base that served as the trial venue, no disturbances rocked Lima.
   
   Authorities had deployed 10,000 police, many in riot gear, to guarantee security.
   
   Keiko Fujimori, 34, said she would call for Fujimori supporters to show their anger at the result in peaceful fashion.
   
   While "horrendous crimes" were committed during her father's 1990-2000 rule, the ex-president was not responsible, she argued.
   
   Nevertheless, "the hate of pro-terrorist groups" would ensure that his appeal would be shot down, she predicted.
   
   She has said she is toying with the idea of running for president in 2011 on her father's behalf, and that if she won, she would pardon him.

   Report (0) (0)  |   12 years, 8 month(s) ago