Jorge Castro, the lawyer of former TV owner José Enrique Crousillat, said his client is currently hiding outside of Peru where he is receiving medical treatment, local paper Peru. 21 reported.
Castro said he would not reveal where his client is located, adding that Crousillat sees the arrest warrant issued last March as politically motivated.
A video clip featuring Crousillat, who has been wanted by police since President Alan García revoked a pardon granted to him last December, was broadcast on Tuesday by Panamericana TV, daily El Comercio reported.
“Making the decision to go underground I am aware of what it means,” Crousillat said in the video. “The risk to my health away from my family and without the opportunity to start from zero to build what took me so many years to do.”
The full video is expected to be broadcast on Thursday by Panamericana TV’s “Enemigos Publicos” program.
President Alan García granted a pardon to the former owner of America Television on Dec. 11 for “humanitarian reasons,” on the grounds that Crousillat, 77, suffered from a series of ailments, including heart disease, depression and diabetes, which could put his life at risk.
Crousillat and his son, José Francisco, fled to Argentina in 2001 when video tapes recorded in the National Intelligence Service, SIN, proved the wide corruption network that ex-President Fujimori and his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos had woven to control the media and public opinion. Early in 2006, the Crousillats were extradited to face trial in Lima.
Crousillat was sentenced to eight years in prison and charged a fine of $52 million, convicted of “selling” America Television’s editorial line to the Fujimori government in the 1990s.
About a month after he was pardoned by President García, however, IDL-Reporteros, a non-profit investigative reporting team, published a picture of Crousillat, who appeared to be in good health during a recent visit to a beach. Crousillat had also been seen in good condition at popular restaurants.
