The Supreme Court of Justice of the Republic ruled that the sentence imposed on the former presidential advisor Vladimiro Montesinos for the crimes of Pativilca and La Cantuta is effectively served until September 30, 2037, after annulling the previous sentence calculation that had deemed the sanction fulfilled in January of this year.
The resolution, issued by the Temporary Criminal Chamber of the highest court, declared void the part of the sentence of 19 years and 8 months handed down in January 2024 that had considered the total sentence fulfilled, arguing that the previous calculation improperly used periods of detention that corresponded to other criminal processes not directly linked to the crimes tried.
Montesinos, who remains detained at the Callao Naval Base, was convicted as the direct perpetrator of qualified homicide in both cases. In Pativilca, he is credited with participating in the massacre of peasants committed in 1992 by the Colina paramilitary group, while in La Cantuta it concerns the executions and forced disappearances of students and a teacher in the same year.
The Supreme Court determined that, after discounting the six years of strict detention suffered by Montesinos in the corresponding process, he still has 13 years and 8 months of prison remaining. By taking as a starting point the date on which the conviction was issued (January 31, 2024), the now reformulated sentence will be carried out until the end of September 2037.
The decision puts an end to previous interpretations that had counted as completed periods of confinement generated in other judicial processes – such as preventive detentions related to different crimes – which, according to the highest court, should not be considered for the purposes of calculating the sentence imposed by the Pativilca and La Cantuta cases.
The ruling thus supports the position of the Public Ministry, which had challenged the previous calculation by arguing that only the years of detention directly linked to the processes for which the present sentence was imposed should be deducted, rejecting the inclusion of measures of personal coercion from other unrelated criminal processes.
With this decision, Alberto Fujimori’s former advisor – one of the most controversial figures of the 1990s and 2000s – will remain in prison for more than an additional decade, reinforcing the nature of long-term sentences for human rights violations and rejecting the prescription or early release of his sanction for these cases that still mark the country’s recent history.
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