Peru’s President Ollanta Humala on Friday denied a request to pardon former president Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses.
Justice Minister Daniel Figallo announced the decision, saying Humala had decided to accept a special committee’s recommendation against granting Fujimori a pardon on humanitarian grounds.
Humala “decided not to exercise his authority to grant a humanitarian pardon,” Figallo said.
Fujimori, who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, was convicted in 2009 of the killings of 25 people by a government-backed death squad in the course of Peru’s war against the Maoist Shining Path rebel group.
The 74-year-old had submitted a request for a pardon eight months ago, arguing that he was suffering from a recurring cancer of the tongue and depression.
He has been treated for cancerous lesions on his tongue while in prison, but a medical panel in March said there was no evidence it had returned.
“Fujimori does not have a terminal illness, neither does he have a serious, incurable degenerative illness,” Figallo said. “Neither does he have serious incurable mental disorders.”
In light of those considerations, Humala did not have sufficient reasons to overturn Fujimori’s sentence, the minister said.