Corruption, Crime, Law & Justice, Lima, Politics

Keiko Fujimori to remain in prison as Supreme Court fails to reach a consensus

Keiko Fujimori to remain in prison as Supreme Court fails to reach consensus
Keiko Fujimori speaks in her defense at a hearing shortly after her arrest in 2018. Her lawyer, Giuliana Loza, sits in the foreground. Source: TVPeru

Keiko Fujimori’s defense suffered a defeat today when the Supreme Court was unable to reach a consensus on the plea for her immediate release from the 36-month pre-trial imprisonment. Fujimori has been at the Chorrillos women’s prison for nine months now, since November 2018.

Fujimori’s defense attorney, Giuliana Loza, had filed an appeal for review before the Supreme Court on the grounds that Fujimori does not pose a flight risk and is not a threat to the ongoing investigations.

In a hearing that lasted barely five minutes the magistrate presiding the Supreme Court, Hugo Principe, said two members of the Court rejected the appeal outright while the three remaining members ruled to reduce the prison time to 18 months. Reducing the sentence would require four votes. What is striking is that none of the magistrates were in favor of Fujimori’s immediate release, which Fujimori’s defense and party members in Congress believed was a given.

Loza said the Court’s inability to reach a consensus was unjust and disappointing.

“We will exhaust all the legal possibilities that the law and the institution provide…. We will assert all of Keiko Fujimori’s legal tools. As defense attorney, I have not the least doubt that we shall seek recourse from every possible instance for her to regain her liberty,” Loza said to daily El Comercio.

The Supreme Court will now call in a sixth magistrate to hear the appeal and cast a vote.  If the new magistrate votes to reject the appeal, a seventh magistrate will be called to break the tie either way.  If either of the new magistrates comes to a different conclusion entirely, further magistrates will be called until a consensus is reached. No date has been set for the first new magistrate.

With Keiko Fujimori’s defense is also included the appeal for Jaime Yoshiyama and Pier Figari, key figures in her presidential campaign and financing.  Their appeal was also rejected, while the Court agreed to release Luis Mejía, treasurer of the Fuerza Popular party.

Fujimori has yet to be charged of any crime. She is still under investigation for receiving illicit campaign funds and laundering the funds through fake donors.

This week, the special prosecuting team investigating the Odebrecht bribes has received documents from Odebrecht staff in Brazil that are said to prove transfers of funds to Keiko Fujimori for her campaign.  There are also widely recognized indications of obstructing justice by tampering with witnesses and using influence within the Congress and the judicial system to put pressure on decision-makers in the courts.

In the meantime, an appeal for her release has also been filed, by her sister Sacha Fujimori, in the Constitutional Court.

2 Comments

  1. wayne french

    Keiko doesn’t deserve an early release. She is a flight risk just as her father was. She tried to control Congress and was almost running the country. She is the cause if many problems we have. NO KEIKO.

  2. Luis Raul Ulloa

    Ya es la hora para deshacernos de todos los políticos que tanto han herido el proceso democrático en el Peru. Es imposible desarrollar la Patria si político tras político insiste en perpetuar las acciones que hacen, del Peru, una cuna de corrupción e interés propio sin la menor consideración por el pais y la gente que pretenden gobernar. La ley para la adjudicación de estos sinverguenzas tiene que ser completamente Draconiana para, finalmente, limpiar la corrupción política del gobierno, y el futuro del Peru.

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