The Peruvian Supreme Court early yesterday unanimously confirmed a 25-year prison sentence on former president Alberto Fujimori.
A Supreme Court review of Fujimori’s convictions was requested in November by his defense lawyer, who asked the high court to revoke his client’s sentence for human rights abuses.
“None of the 10 pieces of evidence that went to determine his guilt as mastermind of premeditated murder have to do with the issue of him giving the order for the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta” killings in 1991 and 1992, attorney Cesar Nakazaki told the court.
PHOTO: AFP
The defense lawyer also asked for an annulment of Fujimori’s conviction in the kidnapping of a journalist and a businessman in 1992, also because he claimed there was not enough evidence to prove that the former president had ordered the abductions.
Fujimori has been found guilty in four trials since he was extradited from Chile in September 2007.
He was found guilty of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison in December 2007.
In July, he pleaded guilty to charges of illegally paying a US$15 million bonus to his security chief and right-hand man, Vladimiro Montesinos, and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. The sentence is under appeal.
And on Sept. 30 he was given another six year sentence and fined US$9 million after he admitted charges of wiretapping and bribing journalists, politicians and business leaders.
Fujimori’s political downfall began in 2000 when a video of Montesinos was broadcast on TV, showing the spy chief buying off an opposition lawmaker.
Soon after, Fujimori fled to Asia and resigned via fax from a Tokyo hotel.
Congress refused to accept his resignation and instead voted to sack him and ban him from public office for 10 years.
In 2005, Fujimori, who was trying to stay involved in Peruvian politics while in Japanese exile, flew to Chile on a private jet. On arrival, he was arrested and Peru demanded his extradition, which Chile finally granted in September 2007.
Poor health has dogged the former president, slowing trial proceedings.
He has been treated for hypertension and cancer, among other ailments.
His political legacy, however, appears far from extinguished.
Fujimori’s daughter Keiko enjoys her own political career and remains deeply loyal to him.
She is likely to run for the Peruvian presidency next year and, if successful, she has vowed to pardon her father.
A sea warning for Typhoon Champi could be issued as early as Wednesday night, possibly followed by a land warning on Thursday night or Friday, as the storm approaches Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The typhoon is expected to have its greatest impact on Taiwan on Friday and Saturday, bringing heavy rain to central and northern Taiwan and to Yilan and Hualien counties in the east, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. As of 2pm yesterday, Champi was about 2,470km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving westnorthwest at 20kph. It had maximum sustained winds of 191kph and a
EAST OF GUAM: Tropical Storm Champi is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon, but its effect on Taiwan is uncertain due to the presence of a high-pressure system Tropical Storm Champi formed yesterday and has the potential to increase in strength, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Forecasters are closely monitoring a Pacific high-pressure system that would dictate whether the storm turns north or moves toward Taiwan next week, the CWA said. The most likely scenario is that it turns northward after passing the Ryukyu Islands, CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said. As of 8pm yesterday, Champi was east of Guam moving west-northwest at 20kph, CWA data showed. It had maximum sustained winds near the center of 72kph and gusts of up to 101kph, the data showed. If the Pacific high-pressure system
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US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks are to participate in a major military exercise for the second time, when the Lien Yung exercise (聯勇操演) begin next month, a military source said yesterday. The army’s 584th Armored Brigade, which operates the US-built tanks, has already transported them to the Joint Operations Training Base in Pingtung County for the drills from late next month to December, the source said. During the month-long joint military exercise in southern Taiwan, the tanks’ crew would test their combat coordination, said the source, who asked not to be named. The M1A2T Abrams tanks were included in a major Taiwanese military exercise
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