IMPUNITY IN PERU AND THE EXTRADITION OF FUJIMORI TO PERU
CONSIDERING:
1.- That the struggle against impunity has been a main priority for FIDH since its creation.
2.- That, in recent years, Latin America has shown willingness to prosecute governments which violate human rights, as exemplified by the indictments of Augusto Pinochet and the Argentinean army officers responsible for disappearances and extra-judiciary executions. The struggle to indict Garcia Meza in Bolivia, the recent criminal trials against the army officers responsible for violating human rights in Paraguay and trials underway in Uruguay mean that a strong movement against impunity has emerged in Latin America. In addition, there are the judicial procedures in Peru against Alberto Fujimori and in Guatemala against General Rios Mont.
3.- That some human rights violators have chosen to take refuge in their home countries where they are protected by amnesty laws, statutes of limitations or political agreements seeking to secure impunity for these perpetrators. Others seek refuge in “friendly” countries so as to evade justice in their own countries.
4.- That, currently, an exemplary case in Latin America is that of Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru from 1990 to 2000. Over those years, more that 2000 arrested persons disappeared; more that 15000 people were arbitrarily arrested, tried and sentenced by faceless judges who violated the rules of fair trial. More than 2000 persons were executed without trial and those who master minded crimes like the “Cantuta” (arrest/disappearance of 9 Peruvian students and a University professor); the death of 41 prisoners held at the Castro Castro Penitentiary in 1992; the death of 15 persons including an 8 year old child in “Barrios Altos” street in Lima in November 2001,as well as the large group of political opponents who were detained and tortured (See Peru “A Permanent Coup d’Etat” –FIDH Mission -1998). Thus, at the 35th FIDH Congress held in Quito, from 1st to 8th March 2004, it was agreed to engage all possible actions with a view to obtain Fujimori extradited to Peru.
5.- Recalling that Alberto Fujimori fled Peru in November 2000 when a fraud which would have secured his second re-election was exposed. He fled to Japan where he remained until November 2005, when he evaded an INTERPOL red international arrest warrant, to Chile where he planned his bid to be re-elected in Peru since presidential and legislative elections were to be held 5 months later.
6.- That the speedy response of the Peruvian government, human rights organisations like FIDH and its member leagues and the families of the victims, succeeded in filing a new request with the state of Chile for the extradition of Alberto Fujimori to Peru, for 12 cases of human rights violations (10 of which related to corruption offences and the other 2 to human rights violations).
7.- That FIDH, in April 2006, sent a mission in support of the request for extradition. It encountered a number of situations which illustrated the risks attaching to this endeavour. (See FIDH Mission report – April 2006 “the extradition of Fujimori to Peru a matter of Justice”).
8.- That, in the new political scene in Peru, there is a strong alliance between Fujimori’s followers and the Party in Government (APRA) who seek to secure impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations including opposing the extradition of the ex-president.
9.- That the current status of the proceedings is that there will be a first instance ruling from the Supreme Court Judge followed by an appeal to the Supreme Court. These proceedings will take up most of 2007.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, from 23 to 25 April 2007 at its XXXVI World congress, proclaims its concern about impunity in Peru and about the extradition of Fujimori to Peru. As a consequence, the FIDH resolves:
1.- To promote a very active campaign against impunity in Latin America, impunity being understood as the negation of justice and the protection of the perpetrators of grave human rights violations.
2.- To support the extradition of Alberto Fujimori to Peru, mainly on charges of human rights violations through international action to compel the Chilean state to grant the extradition order.
3.- To send a follow-up mission of the 2006 report.