Andina

Peru: Public Ministry was supposed to present charges against Fujimori, hearing suspended

16:00 | Lima, Jan. 11.

The Judicial Branch on Monday was going to hold a virtual hearing in which the Public Ministry was supposed to present the charges against ex-President Alberto Fujimori, former health ministers, and other ex-government officials in the case of forced sterilizations in Peru.

The hearing scheduled for today was suspended by Judge Martinez to incorporate Quechua interpreters, in the most representative variants, with which it seeks to guarantee the right to participate —in their language— of the people considered as aggrieved.

In this sense, the magistrate ordered the session be suspended for a new date that will be notified to the parties.

The virtual hearing was going to be conducted via videoconference from the National Police Special Operations Unit (Diroes) headquarters in Lima, where the ex-President is incarcerated.

Moreover, it was reported that Alberto Fujimori was not going to participate as he experienced a decompensation event.

During the session, Prosecutor Pablo Espinoza was going to support the charges against Fujimori and the former officials in his government so that the Judiciary can investigate complaints of offences involving crimes against humanity.

The complaint involves Alberto Fujimori and his former health ministers Eduardo Yong Motta, Marino Costa Bauer, and Alejandro Aguinaga, who were denounced as co-perpetrators of the crimes in the context of serious human rights violations.

Likewise, it includes Segundo Henry Aliaga Pinedo, Enrique Octavio Marroquin Osorio, Magda Isabel Gonzales Carrillo, and Ulises Jorge Aguilar for the case of Mamerita Mestanza, who died after undergoing a tubal ligation procedure.

The Voluntary Surgical Contraception (AQV) Program —which has been denounced as a forced sterilization program against women, mainly rural women— was implemented during the Fujimori regime between 1996 and 2000. 

(END) RMCH/CVC/RMB/MVB

Published: 1/11/2021