Police in Peru have fired tear gas and clashed with protesters demonstrating against the official pardon of ex-president Alberto Fujimori.
Tensions were high in Peru’s capital, Lima, on Monday, as thousands took to the streets, a day after current President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ordered Fujimori’s clemency on health grounds.
In 2009, Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption, kidnapping and human rights violations.
The 79-year-old was released from prison and sent to intensive care on Saturday, after a severe drop in his blood pressure.
Fujimori was found guilty of his role in disappearances and murders by a government-sanctioned death squad, Grupo Colina, during the 1990s.
A poll conducted in May this year showed 59 percent of Peru’s population supported a pardon of Fujimori, who was president between 1990 and 2000.
“My greatest pain is to acknowledge that to a part of the population, Alberto Fujimori was able to portray himself as a victim – looking frail, a depressing image, a hostage of the judiciary,” Guillen said.
Norma Mendez, mother of one of Fujimori’s victims, said she wanted Fujimori to complete his sentence.
“They don’t care about our suffering, about our desolation and the pain we still endure. We will never find peace. He’s old while I’m old too. I haven’t found justice, so he must complete his sentence,” Mendez said.
However, supporters say Fujimori was crucial in defeating the Shining Path, a communist group that started a violent rebellion in the early 1980s, and preventing an all-out civil war.
Fujimori’s supporters also say it was he who made possible the economic recovery of Peru during the 1990s.
Despite his release, Fujimori is facing another trial. A case is pending for the death of six people.
If he is convicted, he could be facing another 25-year sentence.
Families of the victims have vowed to continue fighting against Fujimori.