HUMAN rights activists have condemned a new law passed by Peru’s Congress establishing a statute of limitations for crimes against humanity committed before July 2002.

The Institute of Democracy and Human Rights of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru said that the law, approved on Thursday, “aims to limit the application of internal justice through the extinction of any criminal liability due to the passage of time.”

Last month, several Peruvian human rights organisations warned that passage of the legislation would promote impunity in all cases related to the internal armed conflict from 1980 to 2000.

The new law, promoted by Keiko Fujimori, leader of the right-wing Popular Force party, could benefit her father, former president Alberto Fujimori, and retired military personnel accused of — or even convicted of — committing crimes during the conflict.

Mr Fujimori, who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, was sentenced in 2009 on charges of human rights abuses, including the mass sterilisation of indigenous Peruvians. He was accused of masterminding the killings of 25 Peruvians during a brutal clampdown on Maoist group the Shining Path.

President Dina Boluarte must now decide whether to sign the new law or return it to Congress with new recommendations.