Peru's Prime Minister Yehude Simon Tuesday applauded the sentence. "It shows that Peru's courts are completely autonomous and that they do not let themselves be swayed" by any outside forces, and "they have acted as they should," he said.

The Special Penal Court in charge of the trial had acted "immaculately," said the prime minister. Simon had been jailed for several years during Fujimori's rule for being a member of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, a group intended to overthrow the former president.

"During a trial that lasted for more than a year, the judges remained calm" and made decisions in keeping with their consciences, he said, adding that the ruling would have an impact on jurisprudence across Latin America and the world.

"Whatever ruling, even if it had been in favor of Fujimori, the government would have accepted it," Simon said. "That is how it had to be. The quality of the judges is a source of pride to all Peruvians."

He called on the family and followers of Fujimori to keep calm as his backers had announced plans to take to the streets to protest the sentence.

"They have the right to appeal" but they must accept the rule of democracy, he said.

In Chile, the Group of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees of Chile (AFDD) celebrated the sentence against Fujimori.

The group's spokeswoman Mireya Garcia said that "a sentence of this kind proves that when the justice has conscience it is possible to punish" crimes against humanity.

The Guatemalan Center of Legal Actions of the Human rights (CALDH) said the sentence against Fujimori is a message of hope for the justice systems.

The CALDH director Mario Minera said "the sentence strengthens the State of Law when the impunity that covers some official who have committed grave violations is challenged."

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's family, son Kenji (L-R), daughter congresswoman Keiko and son-in-law Mark Vito Villanella, attends Fujimori's trial at the Special Police Headquarters in Lima April 7, 2009. Fujimori was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday.[Xinhua]

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2009)