Thousands of Peruvians marched on the streets of Lima on Friday to pressure President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski against pardoning the country’s former leader Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights violations.<br /><br />Kuczynski’s promise not to pardon Fujimori during last year’s presidential election helped him scrape together a narrow victory against Fujimori’s daughter, Keiko Fujimori. But last month the president proposed a potential pardon for Fujimori, aged-78, for health reasons as his finance minister was ousted by Congress, which is dominated by Fujimori’s supporters.<br /><br />Fujimori has been convicted of leading groups that massacred civilians and kidnapped journalists during his years in office from 1990-2000. Despite his autocratic style, he still has a solid following among Peruvians who credit him with fixing an economy in crisis and quashing a bloody leftist insurgency.<br /><br />Kuczynski, who took office nearly a year ago to cap a distinguished career in finance and public administration, has vowed to transform Peru into a modern country and is leading regional efforts to pressure Venezuela to enact democratic reforms.<br />
