GENERAL: CHILEAN JUDGE REFUSES TO EXTRADITE FORMER PERUVIAN PRESIDENT ALBERTO FUJIMORI, CASE GOES TO SUPREME COURT.
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) escaped extradition to Peru when Chilean Judge Orlando Alvarez denied Peru's call to extradite him on July 11. Alvarez rejected all 12 criminal allegations that Peruvian attorneys had presented, saying that there was insufficient evidence to grant the extradition request, setting off protests in Peru and Chile where popular opinion opposed the decision. The call for extradition will now go to the Chilean Corte Suprema de Justicia (CSJ), where Peru's government will appeal Alvarez's decision.
"Judge Alvarez defrauded the Peruvian state"
Fujimori returned to the Americas from self-imposed exile in Japan in 2005, months before the presidential election that brought President Alan Garcia back to power in Lima (see NotiSur, 2005-11-18 and 2006-06-16). Despite an Interpol warrant for his arrest, Fujimori's private plane was able to touch down in Mexico and leave, and Chilean authorities allowed him to leave the airport once he had arrived, although they later arrested him at his hotel in Santiago.
Fujimori faces accusations of corruption and human rights violations during his 10-year stint in office. Dozens of members of Fujimori's government have been convicted of various crimes of corruption and human rights violations since he fled to Japan in 2000.
Judge Alvarez said, "In all 12 of these cases, the [evidence] does not sufficiently demonstrate that Alberto Fujimori participated to the extent that the extradition request suggests." Alvarez reversed the recommendation that Monica Maldonado, the prosecutor from the country's top court, had made in favor of extradition in early June. Her analysis of Peru's request to the court said extradition was warranted on 10 corruption and two human rights charges, including the deaths of 21 people, according to a statement e-mailed by the court.
At the time of Maldonado's analysis, John Walsh of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) said, "The evidence in the human rights and corruption charges is clear. Things don't look good for Fujimori." He said the recommendation cleared the way for a decision in favor of extradition and could set a precedent for other former leaders sought by their countries, including Ecuador's Abdala Bucaram (1996-1997) and Bolivia's Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada(1993-1997, 2001-2003).
Maldonado recommended the court extradite Fujimori on charges of embezzlement, the deaths of 15 people at a downtown Lima barbecue in 1991...
Para continuar leyendo
Solicita tu pruebaCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
