Former Peru leader Fujimori denied pardon

Peru's commission of presidential pardons has ruled out terminal illness as a possible reason for a pardon of former President Alberto Fujimori, who is currently in jail for human rights crimes. Prime Minister Juan Jimenez said: "From what I have read, I know he is not terminally ill," and therefore the commission of presidential pardons "will determine whether prison conditions may indeed affect his health," according to Prensa Latina. News reports said recently Fujimori's children has asked President Ollanta Humala for a humanitarian pardon. The 74-year-old former president was reported to be suffering from oral cancer. The jailed leader's oldest daughter, Keiko Fujimori, a lawmaker who ran against Humala for the presidency in 2011, was quoted as saying that the request was based on medical reasons. "We note all of his illnesses and the five operations and surgeries that my father has had on his tongue," she said.

The head of the Penitenciary National Institute, Jose Luis Perez, insisted that Fujimori´s prison conditions are adequate and "he has everything he needs to attend to his illness and advanced age," Prensa Latina reported.

According to the news agency, a number of sources reported that Fujimori is running a pardon campaign from jail, backed by Raffo and other collaborators such as entrepreneur German Kruger who financed the former leader's trip to Chile in 2005 from where he was arrested and extradited to Peru in 2007.

News report said Fujimori defeated most of the Shining Path insurgency during his decade in power, but his authoritarian style and widespread corruption turned Peruvians against him.

He was extradited to Peru from Chile in 2007 and later sentenced in a series of trials to 25 years in prison for theft and using death squads to crack down on insurgents.

Fujimori was credited for slaying hyperinflation and opening Peru's economy to trade and foreign investment, enabling it to become one of the fastest-growing in Latin America.