Former Peruvian president Fujimori dies at 86

Peru’s former president Alberto Fujimori, who was imprisoned for 16 years  for crimes against humanity, died on Wednesday at the age of 86 in the capital Lima, his family said.

“After a long battle with cancer, our father, Alberto Fujimori, has just departed to meet the Lord,” his children Keiko, Hiro, Sachie and Kenji Fujimori wrote on the social media platform X.

“We ask those who loved him to join us in praying for the eternal rest of his soul,” they wrote, adding, “Thank you for so much, Dad!”.

Fujimori led Peru from 1990 to 2000, and was released from prison on humanitarian grounds in December, two-thirds of the way through a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity during his rule.

Sources close to his family said that his health had deteriorated rapidly after completing treatment for mouth cancer in August.

Fujimori, who was of Japanese heritage, was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in supposed anti-terrorist operations.

AFP