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RIGHTS-CHILE: Fujimori – One Step Closer to Extradition to Peru

Gustavo González

SANTIAGO, Jun 7 2007 (IPS) - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori should be extradited to his country to be tried on charges of corruption and human rights abuses, according to a report presented Thursday by Chilean Supreme Court prosecutor Mónica Maldonado.

Based on her study of the extradition request from Peru, the prosecutor said in her 50-page report that extradition was warranted on nine out of the 10 corruption charges faced by Fujimori, who fled to Japan in 2000 as his government collapsed amidst a major corruption scandal, but inexplicably flew to Chile in late 2005, where he was immediately arrested.

She also recommended extradition on the basis of crimes against humanity, involving the so-called La Cantuta and Barrios Altos death squad massacres.

As president at the time, Fujimori (1990-2000) is accused of being responsible for the 1991 killings by a paramilitary group of 15 alleged Maoist Shining Path guerrillas (including an eight-year-old boy) in the Lima neighbourhood of Barrios Altos, and the 1992 forced disappearance and murder of nine students and a professor at La Cantuta University.

Reports that later emerged indicated that the Barrios Altos killings were apparently a case of mistaken identity.

Raúl Paiba, president of the Committee of Peruvian Refugees in Chile, applauded the prosecutor’s report, and said her recommendation to extradite Fujimori was consistent with the “compelling” evidence pointing to his guilt.

Gisela Ortiz, representative of the families of the victims of the La Cantuta killings, had warned in Lima that they would file individual lawsuits in the Chilean courts if Maldonado did not recommend extradition.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s spokesman, Ricardo Lagos Weber, said Thursday that “a series of precautionary measures” had been taken in Santiago to prevent Fujimori from fleeing the country, given the probability that he will be extradited to Lima.

Paiba, as well as lawmakers Rafael Tarud and Antonio Leal of the Party for Democracy – part of Chile’s governing centre-left coalition – had warned of the risk of the former president, who is free on bail and living in a mansion in Santiago, fleeing the country if the prosecutor’s report said that the charges against him should be accepted.

Judicial sources reported that Fujimori may be in Chile until the end of the year, until the extradition process is completed.

Maldonado’s report will go to Supreme Court Judge Orlando Álvarez, who is handling Fujimori’s case. The magistrate has no deadline for handing down a decision, which will be subject to appeal by either side.

Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley stressed the independence with which the justice system has acted in the case: “The government’s duty is to do what we have done all along: wait until the legal process is complete, and wait for the ruling, which, we are sure, will be fully in accordance with the law.”

“After that, if it is up to the government to implement any measure (related to the extradition of Fujimori), we will do so. But the first thing is to have the patience to wait for the judicial ruling,” said Foxley.

The Japanese-Peruvian Fujimori defeated rightwing writer Mario Vargas Llosa in the 1990 presidential elections and was reelected in 1995 with 64 percent of the vote.

In 1992, he carried out a self-coup, dissolving parliament, suspending civil liberties, taking over the courts, and governing with the support of the armed forces.

His third term began in July 2000. But his government swiftly crumbled under the weight of a scandal in which it emerged that his security chief, the all-powerful Vladimiro Montesinos, had built up a vast network of corruption.

In November 2000, Fujimori faxed his resignation from Brunei, where he was participating in an Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) summit. From there he flew to Japan, and was granted asylum thanks to his double nationality.

Congress rejected his resignation and impeached and removed him on charges that he was “morally unfit to govern.” In 2001, the Peruvian courts issued warrants for his arrest on a number of charges.

Fujimori surprised the world by travelling to Chile in 2005 with the intention of returning to Peru. His ultimate aim was to somehow take part in the 2006 elections, which were eventually won by social democratic President Alan García.

But the government of then Chilean President Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006) immediately ordered his arrest. After being held in the Gendarmerie School, he was released on house arrest, until he was freed on bail in May 2006.