Peru declares 3 days of national mourning for former President Alberto Fujimori

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s government on Thursday declared three days of national mourning over the death of former President Alberto Fujimori and granted him a state funeral despite his convictions for human rights abuses and corruption.

Fujimori, who governed the South American country with an increasingly authoritarian hand between 1990 and 2000, died of cancer Wednesday at a home in the capital, Lima. He was freed from prison in December following a court ruling that granted him a pardon on humanitarian grounds.

His coffin was taken Thursday to the Ministry of Culture to lie in state until Saturday. Riot police and about 50 supporters surrounded the hearse as it moved through the streets of Lima.

Fujimori's daughter Keiko and son Kenji followed the flag-draped coffin as pallbearers carried it into the ministry. The siblings were met by President Dina Boluarte.