Justices Admit GW's Amicus Curiae in the Fujimori Trial

Last week, I reported on a debate at the trial of ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori over the admissibility of an amicus brief submitted to the court by George Washington University's International Human Rights Clinic. Fujimori's defense opposed the brief--which concludes that Fujimori "permitted, facilitated, and participated in" the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta Massacres--as a partisan document that would compromise the impartiality of the court.

In a unanimous ruling on Friday, the court dismissed the defense's argument and allowed the admission of the brief, explaining that it constituted a "relevant legal instrument" that would permit the court "to consider legal and social arguments that are in play" at the trial. The court stressed, however, that the brief was "non-binding" and would "not produce a detriment" to either the prosecution or the defense.

Perhaps foreshadowing Friday's ruling, the three Supreme Court justices sitting in the Fujimori trial personally accepted the amicus brief from GW's International Human Rights Clinic on June 27th and proudly stood for a photograph with the brief's author, Prof. Arturo Carrillo, and his student clinicians.

--Hayden Gore