CHILE: Former Peru President Alberto Fujimori pleased at court decision not to extradite him

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori says he is pleased by a Chilean judge's decision not to extradite him to Peru. Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori said on Friday (July 13) that he was pleased about a Chilean's judge's decision not to extradite him to Chile to face charges of human rights abuses and corruption. "Of course I can't deny the great satisfaction I have," he said at a luxury condominium in Santiago, Chile, where he is under house arrest. "It means that, just as I have maintained for years, I am innocent." On Wednesday (July 11), Supreme Court Judge Orlando Alvarez said Peruvian prosecutors had failed to demonstrate Fujimori was involved in human rights abuses including two massacres during Peru's battle with the Shining Path Maoist rebel group in the 1990s. Fujimori's daughter, 32-year-old Congresswoman Keiko, said one of her main focuses was helping her father in his extradition battle with Peruvian authorities, who charge him with corruption and human rights abuses during his rule. Fujimori has been under arrest in Chile since he arrived in Santiago unexpectedly in late 2005. "I've always been confident in the Chilean justice system and I have always maintained that my father will come out successfully in this extradition process," Keiko said. "What I feel is that justice was done." The eldest of four children from Fujimori's first marriage, Keiko also said she feared her father, 68, would not receive a fair trial if he were extradited to Peru. The congresswoman, who is four months pregnant, said she was sure her father would one day return to Peru, as he has often promised. Fujimori is still tremendously popular in some quarters in Peru, where he won praise for his tough stance on terrorism, particularly during a four-month siege of the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima in 1996-1997. But his critics say he abused his power and committed serious human rights abuses during his tenure.

ITN Source | July 14, 2007

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