Lima, August 17 (RHC/teleSUR), -- Peru's Supreme Court canceled an eight-year prison sentence Tuesday issued by a lower court last year against former dictator Alberto Fujimori for having used public funds to bribe tabloid journalists in order to smear political opponents when he was running for a second election in 2000.

The court unanimously accepted the request submitted by the lawyer of Fujimori, who has been serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights violations since 2009. The notorious former dictator ruled the country from 1990 to 2000.

According to the previous sentence, Fujimori was found guilty of ordering and funding attacks against his opponents through the media, under the watch of state intelligence services. But the sentence has now been canceled and Fujimori absolved from the charges.

Lawyer Carlos Rivera, from the Institute of Legal Defense, deplored the “pathetic” sentence saying it was “highly dangerous for the fight against corruption in Peru.”

“If there was one case including overwhelming, strong and conclusive evidence, it was in the tabloids case,” he told daily El Comercio.

Fujimori, 77, is currently serving a prison sentence for his role in kidnappings and murders carried out by the Grupo Colina death squad.