The End of Impunity for Executive Abuse: Fujimori on Trial

On the world stage, the Alberto Fujimori's conviction will stand as a warning that the preservation of national security can no longer serve as a cloak for violence and human rights abuse.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

Far from the main stages of the international terror hunt a criminal trial is unfolding which could have profound consequences for the prosecution of heads of state who abuse executive power in the name of national security.

Alberto Fujimori was for ten years the president of Peru - the only Latin American leader of Japanese descent and one celebrated for supposedly crushing Peru's internal security threats yet reviled for instituting a brutal national security strategy. His eccentricities stood in stark contrast to the brutality of his policies against leftist guerrillas: He would take part in traditional dances with land workers in the countryside and over time developed a paranoid fear of being poisoned.

Earlier this year and a decade after leaving office, Fujimori received a 25-year prison sentence from Peru's highest court for committing crimes against humanity. The case has seized the nation's attention and Fujimori's cry "soy inocente" has become a mobile phone ringtone. If his conviction is upheld following his appeal during the week of November 23 this case will set an important precedent for the prosecution of heads of state in domestic courts around the world, even in situations where they responded to national security threats.

Certainly, until about a decade ago, heads of state enjoyed carte blanche immunity even when evidence revealed their hand in perpetrating egregious crimes. However, a growing number of high profile cases began to chip away at this shield from prosecution. The extradition proceedings against Augusto Pinochet in Chile, the special international tribunal trials of Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia, and the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant of Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, the current Sudanese president, all send a potent signal that the rule of law applies to the rulers and not just the ruled.

After a 16 month long criminal trial, the Peruvian Supreme Court determined Fujimori to be the intellectual author of an illegal anti-terrorism strategy that resulted in two notorious massacres and the kidnapping of a journalist and businessman carried out by deaths squads he controlled. The court selected these cases as emblematic of a widespread policy of violence and abuse during Fujimori's reign.

Significantly, Fujimori's conviction and sentence represent one of the few times that a wholly domestic court held its country's own former leader accountable for crimes against humanity. If this trend continues, then the tongue- in-cheek warning to law-breaking leaders to "not dust off their passports" will now become "you can't even hide in your own backyard."

The condemnation of Fujimori's anti-terrorism strategy marks a sea-change in attitude around the world. For many years the international community applauded Fujimori for his success at defeating terrorism--despite the costs. Today, his criminal trial stands for the principle that even in wars on terror there are legal parameters that limit what may be done to alleged enemies--or anyone confused to be as such. Human rights violations cannot be considered just collateral damage in wars on terrorism, but rather are punishable criminal acts.

Moreover, Fujimori faces numerous corruption charges which run parallel to his human rights trial that reveal the risk of political leaders who extend and abuse their executive power. Fujimori manipulated public fear of the terrorist threat to continue to expand his executive privileges for personal gain, even as the actual terrorism threat subsided.

Yet, even if Fujimori's conviction is upheld, politics may undermine this significant legal holding. Fujimori's daughter Keiko currently serves as a Peruvian senator and now ranks as the number one candidate for the 2011 elections. She has already promised to pardon her father if elected. In this sense, the upcoming presidential election in Peru will determine its people's commitment to the rule of law. But regardless of the outcome, on the world stage the Fujimori's conviction will stand as a warning that the preservation of national security can no longer serve as a cloak for violence and human rights abuse.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot