Ailing ex-president of Peru hospitalized; pardon proceedings on

In this April 23, 2014 file photo, jailed former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, photographed through a glass window, attends his trial at a police base on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said Friday, July 7, 2017, that a group of doctor’s will help him determine whether to grant a medical pardon for the country’s imprisoned former leader. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)

Peru’s jailed former president Alberto Fujimori was taken to a hospital Friday after showing signs of hypertension and irregular heartbeat, doctors said.

A team of medical experts were also tasked to determine if pardon would be possible for the ailing former leader.

The hospital trip comes on the same day that Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said a potential pardon for Fujimori would not be immediate, as had been speculated, but depended on a medical report that will likely be issued by the end of the year by the doctors.

Fujimori—who turns 79 on July 28—was jailed in 2007 for his role in killings by a death squad targeting supposed guerrillas in the 1990s. He was also convicted of embezzlement and bribery.

Protesters march with portraits of people who were either killed or abducted by government security forces during the presidency of Alberto Fujimori in Lima, Peru, Friday, July 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

“We have brought him to the clinic tonight,” Fujimori’s physician Alejandro Aguinaga told AFP, saying the ex-leader showed signs of “a hypertensive crisis with arrhythmia” and would be evaluated.

He was undergoing tests after which doctors would determine whether he should remain hospitalized or be transferred back to the police headquarters in a Lima suburb where he was being held.

Fujimori has suffered a series of health setbacks, and had a week-long hospital stint last May for a heart condition.

He has also been in and out of hospital with back and stomach trouble and growths on his tongue, which has been operated on several times for cancer.

Peruvian law allows the president to offer pardons for Independence Day—celebrated on July 28—and for Christmas.

Kucynski told a local radio station Friday that he anticipated a decision “before the end of the year” based on “professional opinions” following a medical recommendation. JPV