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Former Peruvian president back in Lima to face trial

Sympathizers of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori demonstrate in front of the police Special Operations Directorship compound in Lima, Peru, on Saturday. PHOTO: AFP

Seven years after fleeing Peru, former president Alberto Fujimori was back in Lima on Saturday to face trial on charges of corruption and responsibility in death squad massacres during his rule.

Fujimori, 69, was immediately flown by helicopter to a temporary detention facility at the Special Police Operations Directorate (DIREOS) after landing in Lima following his extradition from Chile.

Fujimori had resigned by fax from a Tokyo hotel in 2000 after a 10-year presidency that ended with a corruption scandal and was followed by a long legal battle by the Peruvian government to secure his extradition.

Japan, which granted him citizenship because his parents were Japanese, refused to send him to Peru, but he landed unexpectedly in Chile's capital Santiago in November 2005 in a bid to make a political comeback.

Chilean authorities kept him under house arrest for the better part of his 22 months there until the Chilean Supreme Court ordered his extradition on Friday on charges that could put him in jail for decades.

At DIREOS headquarters, Fujimori will be held in a special detention facility made with reinforced concrete walls and bullet-proof windows that has a bedroom, a study and a bathroom.

He will be allowed to go out on the patio for two hours a day and will have access to newspapers and magazines but no television. During visits, he will have to speak to his family and attorneys through a window.

Hundreds of "Fujimoristas" had gathered at the Jorge Chavez International Airport to welcome their hero with a banner reading "We Defend the Innocence of Fujimori."

But Fujimori's police airplane landed in a military airport in another part of the capital.

"It was a dirty trick by the government," his daughter, Keiko Fujimori, who is a member of Congress, told the supporters before leaving with a disheartened look.

Peruvian authorities have charged Fujimori with corruption and responsibility in the killings of 15 people in Lima's Barrios Altos neighborhood in 1991 and of nine students and a professor at La Cantuta University in 1992.

The killings were carried out by a death squad composed of military soldiers during the Fujimori government's campaign against the Maoist Shining Path insurgency.

Fujimori drew both praise and criticism during his 1990 to 2000 presidency over his strongarm tactics to crush the Shining Path movement in a war that human rights groups say left 70,000 dead or missing.

He had hoped to make a triumphant political comeback, but now could face up to 30 years behind bars for the human rights cases and 10 years for the corruption charges.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde said his government will send a new extradition request to Chile in order to charge Fujimori with ordering the killing of 42 suspected Shining Path members after a prison riot in 1992.

In addition to the human rights cases, the Chilean judges recognized a series of corruption charges, including one over the alleged misuse of US$15 million in public funds.

Fujimori's return could pose a problem for Peruvian President Alan Garcia, whose APRA party, lacking a majority, had a tacit alliance with the 13 "Fujimorista" lawmakers in the 120-member unicameral Congress.

Analysts say Fujimori's detention could test the support of his Alliance for the Future party to the government.

Fujimori, who still enjoys support among the poorest Peruvians, said before departing he hoped for a fair trial and predicted he would be greeted with strong popular support.

"I say that Fujimorism is going to mobilize, it is going to be strong. Fujimorism has deep popular roots. These people are going to support me," he said in an interview with Chile's El Mercurio newspaper.
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