AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index: AMR 46/018/2009
25 November 2009
Peru: Fujimori appeal hearing ends
The Peruvian Supreme Court today concluded the two-day hearing of former President Alberto Fujimori's appeal against the 25-year prison sentence given to him in April 2009 for sanctioning the paramilitary death squad that was responsible for disappearances and extrajudicial killings in 1991 and 1992.
'The conviction of former President Alberto Fujimori last April represented a crucial milestone in the struggle against impunity in Peru and showed the world that nobody is exempt from being held to account' said Guadalupe Marengo, Amnesty International's Deputy Programme Director for Americas.
'The verdict sent a clear signal that the most senior officials can be brought to justice'
'The rights of victims and their relatives to truth, justice and reparation are essential to overcome the grave injustices of Peru's recent past.'
Background
Former President Alberto Fujimori, in office between 1990-2000, was given a 25 year prison sentence on 7 April 2009 for sanctioning the paramilitary death squad, Grupo Colina. The squad was responsible for human rights violations committed in the cases of Barrios Altos, where 15 men, women and children were extra-judicially executed in 1991, and La Cantuta, where nine students and a university lecturer were kidnapped and later killed in 1992.The Supreme Court began evaluating ex-President Alberto Fujimori's appeal on 23 November 2009.
Amnesty International has considers that under the government of Alberto Fujimori serious human rights violations under? international law -- such as torture, killings and enforced disappearance -- were committed. Given their widespread and systematic nature these violations constituted crimes against humanity.
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