Peru’s ex-president Fujimori hospitalized for neurological and lung issues
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. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)
LIMA, Peru — Peru’s jailed ex-president Alberto Fujimori was hospitalized Monday in Lima after suffering neurological and lung problems, his family doctor told AFP.
Fujimori, 81, is serving a 25-year jail sentence for ordering two massacres by death squads in 1991 and 1992.
“(The former president) is under evaluation,” said his doctor, Alejandro Aguinaga, after visiting Fujimori in the Peruvian-Japanese Centennial Clinic.
Aguinaga said he had “told (the clinic’s doctors) to have the neurologist take a look” at Fujimori, who would also undergo a lung scan.
Although the former leader’s lung “is not ventilating perfectly, it is under control,” said Aguinaga.
Article continues after this advertisementPrison doctors realized Sunday night that Fujimori was not breathing well, so they gave him oxygen. Shortly thereafter, they decided he should be transferred to the clinic.
Article continues after this advertisementA source close to the family told AFP earlier that Fujimori had been transferred to the clinic for neurological issues, facial paralysis and an increase in blood pressure.
“He is under observation in (the clinic’s) intermediate care unit,” where he has been hospitalized several times in previous years, the source said.
Fujimori, who was in office from 1990-2000, was pardoned in December 2017 on humanitarian grounds by then-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
Critics said the move was in exchange for Fujimori’s son helping Kuczynski avoid impeachment.
The former president, who is of Japanese descent, has been held at a police base east of Lima since the pardon was revoked by a Peruvian court in October 2018.
Fujimori’s last public statement was made five days ago, expressing regret that his daughter — 44-year-old opposition leader Keiko — had been sentenced to 15 months in prison for corruption charges.
