Thousands of People Protesting in Lima Against Pardon for Former President

Thousands of people took to streets of Lima after former leader Alberto Fujimori who served a sentence for corruption, had been pardoned.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – More than 5,000 people are protesting in the Peruvian capital of Lima against country’s President Pablo Kuczynski’s decision to grant pardon to ex-leader Alberto Fujimori, who served a 25-year sentence for corruption and other crimes, local media reported.

On Sunday, Kuczynski pardoned 79-year-old Fujimori on humanitarian grounds because of an incurable and worsening disease.

Thousands of people, who disagreed with the president’s decision, gathered on Monday in the center of Lima with police having resorted to tear gas to disperse the activists, the Republica media outlet reported. Several protesters were reportedly arrested during the demonstration.

Fujimori served as President of Peru from July 1990 to November 2000. Later, he was prosecuted, and in April 2009, the court sentenced him to 25 years in prison on charges of corruption and human rights abuses.

Several critics paid attention to the fact that Fujimori’s son, Kenji Fujimori, abstained earlier in a parliamentary vote to impeach Kuczynski. Such motion followed corruption charges related to Kuczynski's business with a Brazilian construction company.