Government candidate says he will not pardon Fujimori if he wins in Peru

File image of the presidential candidate of the Morado party, Julio Guzmán. EFE / Ernesto Arias / Archive

Lima – The presidential candidate of the Morado party, Julio Guzmán, assured this Monday that “if elected, we are not going to pardon Fujimori,” referring to former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a sentence of 25 years in prison for human rights abuses.

In an interview with Canal N, Guzmán, a candidate from the same party as the current president, Francisco Sagasti, responded about a hypothetical pardon for Fujimori, after his daughter and also presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori announced that he would pardon him in case of winning the 11 elections. next April.

“Regardless of the legal issue, Mr. Fujimori’s pardon is an insult to all Peruvians,” said Guzmán, third in voting intention with 7%, like the leftist candidate Verónika Mendoza.

Keiko Fujimori ranks second in voting intention with 8%, while former mayor George Forsyth is the favorite with 17%, according to the Ipsos company poll published on Sunday.

INACCESSIBLE PARDON FOR FUJIMORI
Since Alberto Fujimori was convicted of crimes against humanity, he cannot be pardoned according to international law and this has been ratified by the Supreme Court of Justice of Peru.

Instead, Guzmán criticized that Keiko Fujimori “always chooses a presidential campaign to apologize,” following the interview he gave to a Sunday in which he spoke about his father in tears and his desire to see him out of prison.

Keiko Fujimori made the announcement about her father’s situation after the poll was published, stating that he also leads, together with former President Ollanta Humala, the list of candidates who receive the most rejection from the electorate.
The Ipsos poll noted that 71% of Peruvians “definitely would not vote” for Fujimori, while 73% would not vote for Humala either.

FUJIMORISMO SUPPORTS CANDIDATE
The general secretary of Fuerza Popular, Luis Galarreta, told RPP Noticias that “what (Keiko) has indicated, so that it is absolutely transparent, is that in this case if she receives the support of the population, she will make the decision to give her a pardon. to President Fujimori, with whom we all agree in the party. ”
Galarreta confirmed that the bond between Keiko and her father has been resumed, after having discrepancies in recent years, and said that “today the approach is very familiar.”
“He advises her, of course, not all the time; at least, she receives some advice and support from President Fujimori,” he said.
Keiko Fujimori has served two preventive detention while the Prosecutor’s Office investigates her, along with her party, for the alleged financing with illicit money of her presidential campaigns in 2011 and 2016, in which she apparently received money from the Brazilian company Odebrecht.