JURIST - Paper Chase: Peru ex-president Fujimori apologizes for killings

[JURIST] Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], apologized Friday for his role in two massacres which occurred during his administration in the early 1990s. Fujimori's apology came during his trial on murder and kidnapping charges [JURIST report] stemming from the military killings of 25 people in 1991 and 1992. The victims included a professor and nine students killed at the so-called La Cantuta massacre [backgrounder] at Lima's La Cantuta University, along with 15 people killed in Lima's Barrios Altos neighborhood. Fujimori claimed that he did not authorize and did not have any knowledge of the killings, which were likely part of a war on Shining Path rebels [FAS backgrounder] in the country.

Earlier this month, Fujimori was sentenced [JURIST report] to six years in prison for abuse of authority in the last months of his 1990-2000 rule. He was convicted of ordering a warrantless search in 2000 on the apartment of the wife of former Peruvian Intelligence Director Vladimiro Montesino [BBC profile]. It was the first time that Fujimori has ever been sentenced for a crime. He faces three other trials in Peru, which are a consolidation of six separate charges all stemming from his actions during three presidential terms in office from 1990-2000, including authorizing illegal phone taps, bribing key congressmen and government officials, and misusing government funds. AP has more.

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