On Thursday, the 12^th of January, tens of thousands marched in the Peruvian capital of Lima for the fourth time since President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardoned divisive former President Alberto Fujimori on Christmas Eve. They shouted “traitor” and “the pardon has got to go,” demanding its reversal and Kuczynski’s resignation. 79-year-old Fujimori had been serving the 12^th of 25 years in prison for human rights violations and corruption before the decision that freed him out.

UN Human Rights experts were “appalled” by the decision, calling it “a slap in the face to the victims whose tireless commitment brought [Fujimori] to justice” and “a major setback to the rule of law.” Fujimori is the only president worldwide to have been extradited and tried by a court in his home country after he fled to Japan in 2000 amidst evidence of rigged elections and embezzlement of state funds during his ten years in power in the 1990s. His supporters credit him with ending a severe economic crisis and quashing a rebellion by The Shining Path, Communist guerrillas behind public bombings and assassinations in the 80s and 90s. But others view him as a corrupt dictator and mass murderer. Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission found in 2003 that 69,000 had died or disappeared during conflicts with guerrillas. Fujimori presided over death squads that massacred civilians during the anti-communist campaigns, as well as a program resulting in the forced sterilization of hundreds of thousands of rural Indigenous women.

President Kuczynski justified the pardon as a response to fears that the ailing Fujimori might die in prison. In a televised address on December 25^th, he told Peruvians to “turn the page.” “It is clear his government, which inherited a country submerged in a violent and chaotic crisis at the start of the 1990s, incurred in significant legal transgressions regarding democracy and human rights,” he said, “But I also think his government contributed to national progress.”

A report published in La República by Angel Páez revealed that Kuzcynski had been planning the pardon for most of 2017, viewing it as a means to divide his opposition in the Fuerza Popular congressional bloc. He installed ministers that were instrumental in pushing it through. However, in the end, these strategic aims may have collapsed. Many see Fujimori’s pardon more as a last-ditch effort by Kuzcynski to save himself from impeachment.

It came only three days after lawmakers led by Fujimori’s son Kenji had broken free at the last minute from a majority about to vote to begin impeachment proceedings, causing it to fail. Kuczynski is accused of lying to a congressional committee about payments he received as an advisor to Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company whose admissions of paying bribes have brought down many Latin American politicians. Kuczynski’s opponents believe that he struck a deal with Kenji, exchanging Fujimori’s pardon for Kenji’s vote against impeachment. The president’s future remains uncertain.

Besides the political context of the pardon, human rights experts have identified legal problems with it. Because of Fujimori’s crimes, he is only eligible under Peruvian law for a “humanitarian pardon,” which can be granted to individuals with terminal illnesses. But human rights lawyers have pointed out conflicts of interest and irregularities in the medical board whose report was the basis for the pardon. Additionally, the Peruvian National Criminal Court is reviewing a petition from lawyers prosecuting the 1992 Pativilca case, in which Fujimori death squads killed six people. They argue the derecho de gracia (right to pardon) Kuczynski granted, which intended to protect Fujimori from future prosecutions, does not fit the specific time frame in which the law says it can be applied. If the court rules in their favour, it could revoke the pardon. The Fujimori pardon also violates the international law, according to UN experts and the Pro-Human Rights Association. The international Inter-American Human Rights Court convicted Fujimori on two charges of crimes against humanity in 2009 and does not allow pardons or sentence reductions to their rulings.

Peru remains divided over the pardon, with a poll by Datum International finding 52% support for the decision. Upon release from prison, Fujimori wrote on Twitter, “I wish for a Peru without grudges, with all of us working toward a superior objective.” These words will not resonate with family members of victims of forced disappearances and death squads under Fujimori’s regime. Gisela Ortiz, a human rights activist whose brother was killed in a 1992 death squad massacre, spoke to the former president in a quote to Reuters, “You have benefited improperly from an illegal pardon, but that does not take away your responsibility for the death and corruption of the 1990s.”