LIMA, Peru — Alberto Fujimori, the professor-turned-strongman who ruled Peru with an iron grip in the 1990s, acknowledged on Tuesday that he had disappointed many of his countrymen, and he asked their forgiveness “with all my heart.”

The comments, Mr. Fujimori’s first public remarks since President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski granted him a medical pardon on Sunday, did little to quell widespread criticism in Peru that the pardon was motivated less by clemency than a desire to reward Mr. Fujimori’s son Kenji, a congressman who helped Mr. Kuczynski survive a crucial impeachment vote last week.

The sight of a humbled Mr. Fujimori, speaking from a hospital bed in a video that was posted on Facebook, was nonetheless an exceptional moment for Peru. During his presidency, from 1990 to 2000, Mr. Fujimori suspended civil liberties and oversaw a brutal crackdown against the Shining Path, a leftist insurgency.

He was extradited from Chile to Peru in 2007 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for human rights violations that a military death squad carried out under his watch. But public support for clemency for the former leader, who is credited with reforms that put Peru on a path of sustained growth, has inched up in recent months.