Chile's Supreme Court prosecutor on Thursday recommended that former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori be extradited to Peru on corruption and human rights charges, the court announced.
Prosecutor Monica Maldonado made her non-binding recommendation ahead of a decision by Orlando Alvarez, the Supreme Court judge handling the Fujimori case.
Alvarez has no time limit for his decision, which will probably be appealed by either Fujimori or the Peruvian government, setting in motion a long legal process by five Supreme Court appellate judges.
PHOTO: AP
Altogether Fujimori, 69, faces in Peru 10 corruption charges and two for violating human rights during his 1990 to 2000 presidency.
The most serious charges involve a massacre by state forces at the Cantuta University in 1992, when nine students were killed.
In another key case, 15 people were killed in the Barrios Altos neighborhood of Lima in 1991.
Maldonado told reporters the evidence she reviewed in more than 13,000 documents in Fujimori's file was "devastating."
Fujimori, last month in a radio interview, vowed to respect the Chilean Supreme Court's ruling on Peru's extradition request.
His daughter Keiko Fujimori, an elected member of Peru's congress, also said on Thursday in Lima that her father would respect the Peruvian verdict.
"He's not going to run," she told reporters. "You can all rest assured. He will respect the verdict."
However, the 31-year-old lawmaker said there was "no guarantee my father will get due process in Peru," citing as an example an ongoing, seven-year investigation of two former Fujimori aides.
"There are worrying signs my father could face the same," she said.
Peru's Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde, however, assured Fujimori a fair trial if he is extradited, after he was told of Maldonado's decision.
Also in Peru, human rights groups and relatives of alleged victims of government abuses during the Fujimori years welcomed Maldonado's decision.
Maldonado's recommendation "should guide the Chilean state's overall response to Peru's extradition request," Pro-Human Rights Association president Francisco Soberon said.
Gisella Ortiz, a relative of one of the nine La Cantuta students murdered by a death squad in 1992, said she was "quite satisfied."
"Despite the long time the extradition process took, it was well worth the wait," she said.
Fujimori, an agronomist by training and the son of Japanese immigrants, was credited with reining in economic chaos and leftist insurgencies during his two consecutive terms in office. Critics say he achieved that by riding roughshod over civil liberties and human rights.
He unexpectedly arrived in Chile's capital in November 2005 after living in exile in Japan since 2000. He was detained by authorities for six months until he was granted provisional release barring him from leaving Chile.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was