MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean Supreme Court rejects extradition of Fujimori

Fujimori happy with the Court decision

A Chilean Supreme Court judge rejected the extradition of Alberto Fujimori Wednesday, saying Peru failed to prove its former president was involved in death squads and corruption

Fujimori remains under house arrest pending a final ruling in several months by a larger court panel, and analysts say the last word could go either way. Peru provided Chile with evidence that Fujimori committed bribery, misused government funds and sanctioned 25 death squad killings during his decade-long rule that ended in 2000. But Judge Orlando Alvarez said the evidence fell short and that some charges, particularly that of "illegal association," have no Chilean equivalent and therefore can't be used for extradition. As for the most serious charges, he said "it was not proved that Mr. Fujimori ordered or had even the least knowledge beforehand of the killings." Fujimori said the ruling "expresses, as I have always proclaimed, my complete innocence". His brief statement said the charges were fabricated by his political adversaries. "I take this ruling with joy but at the same time with prudence," he said. Peru's Chilean lawyer, Alfredo Etcheverry, said he would find the ruling's "weak points" and file an appeal within days. Chile's President Michelle Bachelet said "there is no reason whatsoever for a judicial ruling to affect relations" between Chile and Peru. Fujimori, 68, the son of Japanese immigrants was elected president in 1990, reelected in the mid nineties but by 2000 had become engulfed in a bribery scandal and fled to Japan, which refused efforts by the Peruvian government to have him extradited. At the time, the Peruvian charges against him included directing death squads, illegal phone tapping and corruption. In November 2005 he returned to Chile, hoping to launch a new bid for the Peruvian presidency, only to be arrested on the request of the Peruvian authorities. Fujimori remains under house arrest in a luxury condominium near Chile's capital. He has long sought to return to the presidency in Peru, but said he'll first run for parliament in Japan, where he fled as his government collapsed under a flurry of scandals. "I still have my followers in Peru, and many of them are happy because a political party in such an important country as Japan has called on me to run. This is something very important for them," said Fujimori who holds both Peruvian and Japanese citizenship.