Disgraced Peruvian ex-president Alberto Fujimori, serving a 25-year prison term for corruption and crimes against humanity, has requested a pardon due to ill health.
The 77-year-old has been in and out of the hospital in recent months for a series of health problems.
"Alberto Fujimori has filed a pardon request with the Justice Ministry. It will be processed under due constitutional and legal terms," council of ministers chief Pedro Cateriano said in a Twitter post.
The reason for the request -- his second -- was not specified.
He has previously had gastric problems, cataract surgery and five operations for a cancerous growth on his tongue.
Fujimori's children have asked President Ollanta Humala to grant him a reprieve on health grounds.
But the president rejected the request in 2013, saying medical reports indicated Fujimori's condition was not sufficiently serious.
Under Peruvian law, granting pardons is a presidential prerogative.
Alberto Fujimori's latest hospitalization came 12 days after his daughter Keiko narrowly lost Peru's presidential election to center-right candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
Fujimori, who was president from 1990 to 2000, was first jailed in 2007 and convicted in 2009 for his role in killings by a death squad targeting supposed members of the Shining Path guerrilla group in the 1990s.
He has also been convicted of embezzlement and bribery.
