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Reuters
 
The trial of Alberto Fujimori
 
An elected strongman brought to book
Apr 8th 2009 | LIMAFrom The Economist print edition
A victory for the rule of law
HE WAS widely credited with having saved his country from economic collapse and a murderous guerrillainsurgency. But for Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s president from 1990 to 2000, the end always justified the often-authoritarian means. On April 7th he became the first elected Latin American president to be found guilty of human-rights abuses by a court sitting in his own country.After a televised trial lasting 16 months, three judges unanimously found that Mr Fujimori had known about andauthorised the activities of an army death-squad, known as the Colina group, which killed 15 people attendinga barbecue at a house in Lima in 1991 and kidnapped and murdered ten people from a teacher-training collegethe following year. These killings occurred as the army was battling the Shining Path Maoist terrorist group. Hisknowledge of the death squad made him the “indirect perpetrator” of these killings, the court ruled. He wasalso found guilty of two brief kidnappings of opponents by intelligence agents. The court sentenced him to 25years imprisonment. He immediately appealed against the verdict.Mr Fujimori was extradited in 2007 from Chile, where he had flown from voluntary exile in Japan in the hope of launching a political comeback. He is already serving a six-year sentence on charges of abuse of power. Hefaces three further trials, one for misuse of public funds.In a lengthy address to the court this month he accused his prosecutors of failing to “distinguish between hateand evidence”. But human-rights groups said that the trial had been fairly conducted. “This trial has shownthat the law is the same for everyone, including ex-presidents,” said Avelino Guillén, the prosecutor.
Fujimori and the judges he scorned
4/11/2009 Economist.comeconomist.com/…/PrinterFriendly.cfm… 1/2
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