Freedom House today released a public letter urging Peruvian president, Ollanta Humala, not to grant a presidential pardon to ex-President Alberto Fujimori, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity.
Freedom House is concerned by reports that journalists from local and national Peruvian media outlets were assaulted on June 14 by police while covering clashes between anti-mining protesters and police in the city of Cajamarca. Protesters were on their 15th day of a strike against the Conga mining project.
Freedom House condemns the prison sentence handed down by a Peruvian criminal court against two journalists on charges of criminal defamation and calls upon the government of Peru to overturn this sentence and to repeal criminal defamation laws which encourage self-censorship, thereby restricting freedom of expression.
Freedom House welcomes Peru’s efforts to investigate the deaths that resulted from a recent anti-mining protest, but remains deeply concerned about the government’s use of state of emergency declarations as a way to restore order.
