Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Kenya Fujimori Inomoto (b. 26 July 1938 in Lima, Peru; d. 11 September 2024 ibidem) was a Peruvian politician, professor, and engineer who served as the 54th president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.
Life
Fujimori, a Roman Catholic, was the country's first president of Japanese descent, and was an agronomist and university rector prior to entering politics.
On 11 December 2007, in a court case separate from the pending human rights charges, Fujimori was convicted of ordering an illegal search and seizure of documents and videotapes in the possession of the wife of his former spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos. He was sentenced to six years in prison. Fujimori appealed the verdict, but on 15 April 2008, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction and 6-year sentence.
On 7 April 2009, Fujimori was convicted of human rights violations and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in killings and kidnappings by the Grupo Colina death squad during his government's battle against leftist guerrillas in the 1990s. The verdict delivered by a three-judge panel marked the first time that an elected head of state has been extradited back to his home country, tried, and convicted of human rights violations. Fujimori was specifically found guilty of murder, bodily harm, and two cases of kidnapping.
On 5 December 2023, he was ordered to be released immediately following an order by the Constitutional Court. This followed a previous order by the court that mandated the decision in the hands of a lower court in Ica, which returned the case to the Constitutional Court citing lack of authority. The following day, he was released from Barbadillo Prison in Lima, after spending 16 years in prison, whereupon he was met by his children Keiko and Kenji as well as a crowd of supporters.
He was diagnosed with tongue cancer in early 2024. Two months before his death, on 14 July 2024, daughter Keiko Fujimori announced her father's candidacy for the 2026 Peruvian general election, despite his legal impediments and difficulties related to old age and poor health. He made his last public appearance at a hospital after undergoing a CT scan on 4 September 2024.
