Thousands protest former president’s pardon in Peru

Alberto Fujimori of Peru (Photo By Gobierno Peruano – http://www4.congreso.gob.pe/comisiones/1999/ciencia/perspecti.htm%7C, CC0)

LIMA, Peru — Thousands of Peruvians are demonstrating against the medical pardon that freed former strongman Alberto Fujimori from a 25-year prison sentence.

Thursday night’s protest in Lima marks the second time in less than a month that Peruvians have taken to the streets to protest the pardon granted by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

Demonstrators carried signs with phrases like “Assassin Fujimori” and held photographs of the 25 Peruvians whose deaths the former president was convicted of playing a role in.

Fujimori was pardoned on humanitarian grounds on Christmas Eve. He was released from a clinic less than two weeks later and in messages on Twitter has urged Peruvians to cast aside their bitterness.

Some Peruvians credit Fujimori with defeating the nation’s Maoist guerrillas, but others condemn him for permitting human rights abuses.