VARIOUS: PERU FORMALLY SEEKS EXTRADITION OF FORMER PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI FROM JAPAN

Record ID: 645980

  • Title: VARIOUS: PERU FORMALLY SEEKS EXTRADITION OF FORMER PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI FROM JAPAN
  • Date: 1st August 2003
  • Summary: (U1)LIMA, PERU (JULY 30, 2003) (REUTERS) SLV PROTESTERS OUTSIDE OF JAPANESE EMBASSY
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LIMA, PERU/UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, JAPAN
  • City:
  • Country: Japan Peru
  • Topics: General,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA33U04AAY0P1CJKB6NG7IOGZM4
  • Story Text: Peru has formally sought the extradition of former President Alberto Fujimori from Japan to face charges that he authorized massacres by miitary death squads in the early 1990s.
    Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Japanese embassy in Lima on Wednesday (July 30, 2003) in support of the extradition from Japan of former President Alberto Fujimori, which Peru formally sought earlier in the day.
    "As family members, we hope that the Japanese government responds with justice and solidarity with the victims and supports the extradition request of the Peruvian government," said local Amnesty International representative Gisela Ortiz.
    A delegation of protesters brought a petition filled with more than 20,000 signatures to Japanese diplomatic officials.
    The Peruvian government wants Fujimori to face charges in Peru that he authorized massacres by military death squads in the early 1990s, government officials said.
    Peruvian Foreign Minister Allan Wagner said Peru has international law on its side.
    "The crimes of Fujimori in this extradition request refer specifically to human rights crimes that are legally supported by abundant international legislation," Wagner told a news conference.
    The charges include murder, kidnapping and inflicting grievous wounds which are "serious violations against human rights," a ministry statement said.
    The 700-page extradition file, originally approved in June 2002, was held up for months over a contract dispute with the translator.
    Japan has no extradition treaty with Peru but the Peruvian government is hoping Japan will make an exception because of the nature of the charges.
    The murder charges against the former president stem from two massacres during his war on the Maoist rebel group the Shining Path.
    Prosecutors accuse Fujimori of authorizing a military death squad to kill 15 suspected leftist guerrillas in 1991 and nine students and a professor at the La Cantuta University in 1992.
    Fujimori, who also faces a slew of corruption charges stemming from his autocratic 1990-2000 rule, denies the charges, saying they are a ploy by his political enemies.
    In a recent videotaped message sent to his Peruvian supporters, Fujimori decried the accusations against him.
    "They are accusing me of everything, even murder traitor to the country. However, the Peruvians, during ten years, came to see that Fujimori thought first of Peru be fore his political career and they have maintained their faith and respect. And now they are saying spontaneously, 'With the 'chino' (Asian man) we were better,'" he stated.
    The disgraced ex-president fled to Japan in 2000 during a corruption scandal triggered by former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos.
    Fujimori, who was later removed from office by Congress, is considered a Japanese citizen because his parents registered him with consular authorities as an infant.
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