Eliane Karp has directly asked President Keiko Fujimori to grant a humanitarian pardon to former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo. Karp spoke in an interview with RPP from Israel, where she currently lives.
Her request adds to one already filed by Toledo's lawyer, Carlos Torres Caro, before the Commission of Presidential Pardons.
Karp said Toledo, 81, is not in good health. She said her husband fell inside the prison where he is being held, and it is not yet known whether he broke or sprained his ankle. She attributed the fall to depression, anxiety and a loss of balance.
Humanitarian pardon request
The humanitarian pardon request is based on Law 32181, which allows adults over 80 to serve their judicial process under house arrest. Karp said the couple paid for the home in Camacho where they hope to serve that measure, and denied it was improperly obtained property.
The interview came hours after a painful episode for Karp. Her mother, Eva Fernenbook, died the day before in Brussels, close to turning 100. Karp linked the death to stress caused by the judicial case against her family and criticized Peru's judicial system directly.
Appeal to Fujimori's own history
Karp addressed Keiko Fujimori with a personal message, asking her to remember her own time in prison and that of her father, Alberto Fujimori. Karp said she wanted Fujimori to give her husband a humanitarian pardon as quickly as possible for everything he had unjustly suffered at the hands of the judiciary.
Karp also responded to Senator Martha Chavez, who had questioned the pardon request. Chavez had argued that Alberto Fujimori was not pardoned in his time despite being close to death. Karp drew a distinction between the two cases, saying Alberto Fujimori had ordered the killing and torture of thousands of people, while her husband had killed no one and ordered no one tortured.
Odebrecht case
On the Odebrecht case, Karp insisted on her husband's innocence. She questioned the testimony of Josef Maiman, an Israeli businessman who testified against Toledo as a cooperating witness. According to Karp, Maiman lied to prosecutors to avoid pretrial detention and to travel to France for treatment of cirrhosis. Karp asked that an additional witness, linked to the handling of bank accounts in Zurich, be brought to Peru to testify.
