Guilty as Charged: The Trial of Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for Human Rights Violations

Abstract

1 On 7 April 2009, Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru from 1990 to 2000, was found guilty of grave human rights violations and sentenced to 25 years in prison - the maximum penalty allowed by Peruvian law. The prosecution and conviction of Fujimori mark a watershed in efforts to achieve accountability after atrocity in Peru and across the globe. This article explores the factors that made the Fujimori trial possible. It briefly examines the global shift in norms favoring accountability for human rights violations that facilitated the extradition and prosecution of Fujimori, the interactions between these global norm shifts and local efforts to achieve accountability for grave human rights violations, and the specific domestic factors in Peru favoring prosecution. The article analyzes the Fujimori trial in terms of both process and outcome, and highlights its implications for politics in Peru and beyond, as well as for the broader field of transitional justice.