Fujimori says return to prison will kill him

Pulse News Agency International by AFP

January 24, 2019 1:18 AM

Peru's ailing former president Alberto Fujimori, who is due to resume serving a lengthy sentence for crimes against humanity, said Wednesday returning to prison would mean certain death.

Handout image from the Fujimori family as ex president tries to avoid prison

Fujimori, who has had his immunity revoked, is set to start serving the remaining 13 of his 25-year sentence -- but he fears the worst.

"I feel that the end is near," he said in a handwritten statement to AFP from hospital in Lima, before being transferred to a cell specially outfitted for him at a police special forces base.

The only inmate, he has constant care for his medical issues and has already lived there a decade.

But in his note, he wrote that should he experience cardiac issues in prison, "the situation will be much more serious and unstable" than in hospital.

"That is why returning to prison is a slow and sure death sentence," he said.

Fujimori is the son of Japanese immigrants, a US-and French-trained mathematician and agronomist. When he was elected many Peruvians reveled in the fact they were choosing someone from outside Peru's traditional elite.

But his 1990-2000 tenure saw him become increasingly authoritarian himself; he was accused of corruption and convicted of ordering politically motivated killings. He resigned from office by fax after fleeing to Tokyo.

Last week, a medical check in Lima cleared him for a return to his cell from hospital.

"They can kill me, but never my achievements," Fujimori argued, mentioning the defeat of Shining Path rebels and his ending of hyperinflation in Peru.

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A picture made available to AFP by the family of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori shows the final page of a letter handwritten and signed by him on January 23, 2019

Pulse News Agency International by AFP