Peruvians rally to keep former president in jail
- 12 years ago
Hundreds of Peruvians rally against a potential pardon for former president Alberto Fujimori.
The one-time leader is serving a 25-year prison term for corruption and human rights abuses.
But he is battling oral cancer and Peru's current president is said to be considering a pardon.
That prospect upset many who lived through Fujimori's long autocratic rule.
(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) GISELA ORTIZ, RELATIVE OF CANTUTA MASSACRE VICTIM, SAYING:
"It truly makes us indignant that the long, 20-year struggle by relatives to defend our right to justice is suddenly endangered by some sort of political negotiation to benefit a murderer responsible for violating human rights."
Fujimori's authoritarian government collapsed in 2000 and he was later convicted of theft and using death squads to crack down on leftist insurgents.
The one-time leader is serving a 25-year prison term for corruption and human rights abuses.
But he is battling oral cancer and Peru's current president is said to be considering a pardon.
That prospect upset many who lived through Fujimori's long autocratic rule.
(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) GISELA ORTIZ, RELATIVE OF CANTUTA MASSACRE VICTIM, SAYING:
"It truly makes us indignant that the long, 20-year struggle by relatives to defend our right to justice is suddenly endangered by some sort of political negotiation to benefit a murderer responsible for violating human rights."
Fujimori's authoritarian government collapsed in 2000 and he was later convicted of theft and using death squads to crack down on leftist insurgents.