Justice confirms cancellation of criminal charges against Fujimori for forced sterilizations

Peruvian justice has confirmed the annulment of the criminal charges against former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) in the case of forced sterilizations, rejecting an appeal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, local media reported on Saturday.

The Fourth National Superior Criminal Liquidation Chamber confirmed in a resolution the decision to annul the “order of opening of instruction” of the case, and thus leaves without effect the progress made between 2021 and 2023.

The Judiciary thus dismisses the appeal filed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office against the first instance resolution, adopted in December 2023.

The court decision was issued on July 22, but was notified recently and confirmed that the case returns to the stage of filing a criminal complaint by the Prosecutor’s Office.

During Fujimori’s second term in office, between 1995 and 2000, the Peruvian government implemented a National Program for Family Planning and Sexual and Reproductive Health, which carried out sterilizations on more than 200,000 people, most of them Quechua-speaking, poor and rural.

This case has been opened and archived several times in Peru since the events were reported and has included, in addition to Fujimori, among those responsible, the then Ministers of Health for having allegedly given instructions for the execution of this program, with incentives for the medical personnel who participated.

In early December 2023, the Constitutional and Social Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice rejected a request to expand the complaint in the case of forced sterilizations, and declared the process that began in 2021 null and void and returned it to the stage of October 2018.

The prosecutor’s request included more information and more victims who suffered these interventions, and the rejection of this extension generated rejection from social organizations.

Following this decision, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) urged the Peruvian State to take urgent measures to guarantee access to justice for victims who suffered forced sterilizations.

“The IACHR urges the State to adopt urgent measures to guarantee access to justice and reparation for victims in cases of forced sterilization and other forms of violence against women,” the organization said on social media X.

He added that he had taken note of the Supreme Court’s decision to annul the order to open an investigation against Alberto Fujimori and other authorities “for forced sterilizations against women committed in the context of serious human rights violations.”

“There is concern about the effects on the speed and enhanced due diligence that must be observed in cases of gender violence and access to justice for victims,” ​​she said.

Lima / EFE