Peruvian justice

Alberto Fujimori, the former president of Peru, was sentenced this week to 25 years in jail on charges including involvement in two civilian massacres and two kidnappings. He is the first democratically elected president in Latin America to be found guilty on human rights charges in his home state.

His trial and conviction were condemned by his supporters as a political exercise, not an impartial administration of justice. They are wrong. It was a fair trial, and it is to the considerable credit of Peru that the case was conducted with maximum transparency and respect for international legal standards. The court case lasted 16 months, involving 160 court appearances. Dozens of international observers attended.

Although he came to power through genuine elections in 1990, Mr Fujimori staged his own “coup” two years later, shutting down the elected Congress that was dominated by the opposition, and suspending the constitution.

He proceeded to ride rough-shod over the country’s legal institutions in the name of waging civil war against the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru revolutionary movements. He was found guilty this week of authorising the creation of a military death squad that was responsible for killings and kidnappings of innocent civilians.

The Fujimori story is all too familiar in Latin America, where individual leaders often seem to think they can ignore constitutional constraints to rule their countries. Real democratic progress depends on respect for those rules.

The case was conducted in the international spotlight. It does not mean that everyday justice in Peru has improved very much. The case against Mr Fujimori was solid, but there are still many prisoners in Peruvian jails who have not had the benefit of due process.

Although much remains to be done, the successful prosecution amounts to confirmation that judicial and democratic institutions are maturing in Latin America. Neighbouring Chile demonstrated that it was capable of staging a fair trial of Gen Augusto Pinochet, the former dictator, after he was extradited from Europe, although he was never convicted. But genuine democracy will only exist when former heads of government do not need to be brought to trial at all.