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LATIN AMERICA | 26-06-2019 12:17

Former president of Perú Alberto Fujimori hospitalised

The controversial former head of state, currently serving 25 years in prison, was diagnosed with abdominal ulcer syndrome and atrial fibrillation which were causing irregular heartbeat.

Perú’s former president Alberto Fujimori was brought from prison Monday, where he is serving 25 years for crimes against humanity, to the Centenario de Pueblo Libre for abdominal pain and cardiac irregularities according to Peruvian television network RPP. 

The controversial former president was diagnosed with painful abdominal peptic ulcer syndrome and atrial fibrillation which had been causing an irregular heartbeat (heart arrhythmia).

“He is being evaluated… he is very nervous,” a close associate of Fujimori said. 

Last year, when Fujimori turned 80, he was told by doctors that he was suffering from serious heart and gastric problems with an imminent risk of terminal cancer.

In December of 2017 Fujimori – who ruled Peru from 1990-2000 – was pardoned by then-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a decision which was then appealed by the families of victims of crimes committed by Fujimori. In October of 2018, the Supreme Court of Peru ruled in favour of the families and ordered that the pardon, which they said violated international law regarding crimes against humanity, be annulled at which point Fujimori was brought back to prison. 

The former president is serving time for the murder and abduction of dozens of people in various violent incidents that occurred during his rule in the fight against the Shining Path guerrillas. Fujimori was convicted of massacres in Barrios Altos (1991) and La Cantuta (1992), where death squads that included members of the Peruvian military killed 25 people in an a so-called counter-terrorism operation. The Supreme Court ruled that the victims, which included an 8-year-old boy, were not in fact guerillas. 

Fujimori fled to Japan after he was forced out of the presidency, but was arrested when attempting to return to Perú via Chile in 2005. A poll conducted in 2008 while he was being prosecuted showed that two thirds of Peruvians approved of his presidency. His daughter, Keiko Fujimori, ran for president in 2011 and 2016, losing both elections. 

- TIMES/PERFIL

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