Peruvian presidential front-runner calls for death penalty for child rapists

The Peruvian justice system should apply the death penalty to those raping children under seven years old, said the front-runner in the country's presidential race Keiko Fujimori on Wednesday.

According to Fujimori, the presidential candidate for the Popular Force (FP) Party, this radical measure is more than justified by the horror of the crime against children.

However, she added that while she would seek to pass this law as president, the law would be thoroughly discussed by Congress, with presidential and parliamentary elections set for April 10.

While capital punishment is legal in Peru, it was last used in 1979. It can be applied for six crimes including treason, genocide, crimes against humanity, terrorism, war crimes and murder. It was abolished in 1979 for any "ordinary crimes."

This policy position of Fujimori is particularly controversial, since the presidential reign of her father, Alberto Fujimori, from 1990 to 2000, was marked by numerous crimes against humanity and rampant corruption.

On the same day, Fujimori also indicated that she would not take part in the presidential debate, which is scheduled for this weekend. Endi