Why the (non-)release of Alberto Fujimori has become Peru’s new soap opera

Your typical Latin American dictatorship would normally come to power through a coup and install a group of military officers at the head of a repressive regime with opposition banned and political opponents persecuted. The case of Peru’s Alberto Fujimori almost fits the bill – except that ‘El Chino,’ Peru’s ruler during the 1990s, was democratically elected. His authoritarian takeover came after. 

Mr. Fujimori’s era of terror saw extrajudicial exterminations, an attempt at ethnic cleansing, widespread corruption, and the dissolution of the country’s legislature in a so-called ‘self-coup.’ 

But, despite a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity and corruption charges, this March the 83-year-old politician came very close to being released from prison for “humanitarian reasons,” following an apparently unappealable determination by the Peruvian Constitution Court.

But Mr. Fujimori’s chance to see daylight – this being only the most recent of several such attempts – was denied, at least for now. 

After two weeks of ‘Fujimori in, Fujimori out,’ the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled on March 30 that the Peruvian justice system must not release the former president, at least until the body can carry out a deeper examination of the case in the first days of April. The postponement of Mr. Fujimori’s release was confirmed by Special Prosecutor Carlos Reaño.

In the meantime, amid pro-Fujimori protests, the case is back in limbo – testament to how controversial the decision to free the right-wing leader was in the first place.

The Peruvian court’s...