Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori died at the age of 86 last night, BTA reported.
He will be remembered for both economic growth and jail term for human rights violations, Reuters reported, adding that close associates who visited him during the day said his condition was critical.
His death was announced by his daughter Keiko, DPA reported. "After a long battle with cancer, our father, Alberto Fujimori, went to meet God," her post on the social platform "Ex" reads.
The son of Japanese immigrants was president of Peru from 1990 to 2000. His rule has been marked by police repression of the Peruvian left, and parliament has been stripped of any decision-making power. In addition, tens of thousands of women have been forcibly sterilized to reduce the birth rate, which is considered an obstacle to the country's development, DPA reports.
Shortly after he won a third presidential election in 2000, introducing an amendment to the constitution for this purpose, a scandal erupted with his top adviser and intelligence chief Vladimiros Montesinos, who was filmed handing out bribes to politicians, Reuters recalls.
Fuhimori fled to Japan, resigning by fax. Thanks to his dual citizenship, he ran for a seat in the Japanese parliament, and he cannot be extradited under local law. That's why in 2005 he shocked Peru by announcing his decision to return.
Instead of receiving a pardon, he was arrested while in Chile in 2007 and extradited to Peru.
Fuhimori was found guilty in 2009 of complicity in 25 murders and two kidnappings while he was president. He was also convicted of several corruption cases. His sentence was 25 years in prison. He was released from prison in December 2023 after Peru's Constitutional Court reinstated the amnesty granted to him in 2017. by then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
In July of this year, his daughter Keiko announced that he intends to run for president again in the 2026 elections.