MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fujimori legally trapped in Chile but candidate in Peru

A Chilean Supreme Court judge ordered Friday that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori be held indefinitely pending Chile's consideration of an extradition request from the Peruvian government.

However in Lima, Fujimori's supporters registered him as a candidate for Peruvian presidential elections next April.

Judge Orlando Alvarez issued the ruling shortly after receiving the roughly 16,000 pages of documents submitted by the Peruvian government in support of the extradition request.

The decision closed the door on the defence's hopes of having Mr. Fujimori freed on bail while Chilean authorities consider the extradition. Nevertheless he will be allowed to receive visitors while in detention.

Mr. Fujimori who ruled Peru from 1990-2000 has been retained in Santiago since November 7, a day after he arrived to Chile unexpectedly from Japan, apparently with hopes of returning to Peru to compete in the April presidential election where he still has support according to independent public opinion polls.

Chilean authorities detained him in compliance with an Interpol warrant. Peruvian prosecutors accuse the former president of multiple corruption and human rights abuses, including the creation of a military-backed death squad allegedly responsible for the killings of at least 25 political opponents.

Mr. Fujimori resigned as Peru's president in November 2000 in a letter faxed from Japan, where he has been living since as a Japanese citizen given his ancestry and birth registration by his immigrant fathers.

He has managed to avoid extradition from Tokyo because of his Japanese citizenship.

However in spite of the Chilean court ruling daughter Keiko Sofia Fujimori and several thousand supporters formally registered him in Lima as candidate for Peru's April 9 presidential election.

The registration ignores a 2000 resolution by the Peruvian Congress banning Mr. Fujimori from holding any public office until 2011 but the Peruvian Election Board has the final say in the matter.

The registration formality was turned into a political event by Keiko Sofia Fujimori and her father's supporters who dressed in orange ponchos and hair-bands sang and danced at the "rhythm of El Chino", the former president's nickname.

"Today is a festive day. We're so happy, the people are so happy" said Keiko but declining to discuss her father's legal situation.