Fujimori’s corruption trial opens in Lima

Former President Alberto Fujimori – sentenced to 25 years of prison last April for sanctioning a paramilitary death squad – is back in court, now facing corruption charges. Fujimori, 70, is accused of illegally channeling nearly $15 million in government funds as a bonus to his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos. The money was transferred just [...]

Fujimori verdict of guilty considered historic in Latin America

Peru‘s former President Alberto Fujimori was found guilty on all charges Tuesday for sanctioning a paramilitary death squad that gunned down 25 people in two notorious massacres during the first two years of his 10-year authoritarian rule. The verdict is considered a paradigm in the hemisphere, since Fujimori is the only democratically-elected Latin American leader [...]

Fujimori says he is innocent of human rights violations, points finger at García and Belaunde Terry

By Annie Thériault Former President Alberto Fujimori took the stand in his own defense Friday, tackling the prosecution’s allegations that he is guilty of sanctioning the Colina Group and of failing to prevent human rights violations committed during his 1990-2000 rule, and pointed fingers at Peru President Alan García and former President Fernando Belaunde Terry. “Where [...]

“Kerosene” says former anti-corruption prosecutor pressured him to implicate Fujimori in death squad massacres

A key witness in the human rights trial against ex-President Alberto Fujimori has testified that former anti-corruption prosecutor Ronald Gamarra pressured him to implicate the former leader as the mastermind behind the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta massacres in exhange for prison benefits. “Gamarra can testify to this and he knows it,” said ex-army Maj. [...]

Sosa Saavedra: top military chiefs ordered murder of alleged terrorists and President Garcia that of an Ecuadorian spy

Top chiefs of Peru’s Armed Forces ordered the assassination of several Maoist Shining Path insurgents and sympathizers in the 1990s and President Alan Garcia in his first administration ordered the elimination of an Ecuadorian spy, according to testimony given by Jesús Sosa Saavedra, a member of the Colina Group paramilitary death squad. Sosa said he [...]