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Former Peruvian president Fujimori to appeal long sentence at int'l court

Xinhua, August 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori is looking to ask international courts to cancel the 25-year prison sentence he is currently serving for crimes against humanity, his lawyer William Paco Castillo said Friday.

Speaking to the press, Castillo said Fujimori's legal team was preparing to ask the International Court of Justice and Human Rights to rule on Fujimori's condemnation.

Paco Castillo admitted that the chance of a presidential pardon by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had been ruled out after two rejected petitions.

Fujimori's daughter, Keiko, who finished second in this year's close presidential race, was also hopeful the courts might free her father, added the lawyer.

However, Jose Ugaz, Peru's former anti-corruption prosecutor and now the president of Transparency International, commented this week to the Peruvian press that international courts would not be likely to favor Fujimori.

"This is technically impossible. For an international court to rule that due process had been fundamentally violated would require an examination lasting years. Therefore, I do not see this (ruling) being modified," he said.

Recently, a court overturned Fujimori's sentence to three years in prison for allegedly paying tabloid newspapers to smear his opponents during his 2000 re-election campaign.

However, Fujimori is still completing a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity, namely ordering the murder of 25 people, including one child, in two separate massacres, Barrios Altos in 1991, and La Cantuta in 1992. Endit