[NYTr] Chile Exradites Fujimori, Setting Internstionsl Precedent

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

IPS News - Sep 22, 2007
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39361

CHILE-PERU:  Decision to Extradite Fujimori 
Sets International Precedent

By Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, Sep 21 (IPS) - Human rights groups applauded the Chilean
Supreme Court’s decision Friday to extradite former Peruvian president
Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) to be tried in his country for gross human
rights abuses, noting that it sets an international legal precedent.

"We are very pleased. We were confident (in the Chilean justice system)
because we have always seen this as a perfect opportunity for the
Chilean Supreme Court to set an important precedent by extraditing a
former civilian president accused of human rights violations," Sergio
Laurenti, executive secretary of Amnesty International Chile, told IPS.

"Although it was a split verdict, it establishes two principles of
international law: the responsibility of command and the principle of
extradition," said the activist.

José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, who was
in the Palace of Justice in Santiago Friday to hear the verdict, said
the decision to extradite Fujimori is unprecedented, because it is the
first time that a court has ordered the extradition of a former head of
state to be tried for human rights violations in his home country.

"After years of evading justice, Fujimori will finally have to respond
to the charges and evidence against him in the country he used to run
like a mafia boss," said Vivanco.

As reporters from around the world anxiously awaited the verdict,
Supreme Court Justice Alberto Chaigneau announced just after 8:00 AM
local time that the Court had decided to extradite Fujimori in
connection with seven of the 13 cases presented by Peruvian
prosecutors, including two human rights cases and five corruption
cases, overturning the first-instance ruling handed down by Justice
Orlando Álvarez.

The two human rights cases involve the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta
massacres, and the case of Sótanos S.I.E,, in which Fujimori is accused
of ordering the abduction and torture of suspected opponents of his
regime.

In the first massacre, 15 alleged members of the Maoist Sendero
Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas were killed in the central Lima
neighbourhood of Barrios Altos on Nov. 3, 1991. The victims, who
included an eight-year-old boy, were at a neighbourhood barbecue when
heavily-armed and masked members of a death squad burst in, ordered
everyone to lie down on the floor, and opened fire on them.

It was later reported that the assailants had been targeting a Sendero
meeting, which apparently took place on another floor of the same
apartment building.

And on Jul. 18, 1992, nine students and a professor at La Cantuta
University were kidnapped and murdered, as suspected members of Sendero.

In one of the corruption cases, Fujimori is accused of bribing members
of Congress to persuade them to defect from their parties and join the
governing party. The other four corruption cases involve charges of
illegal searches, phone-tapping, payoffs to the media, and the misuse
of 15 million dollars in government funds.

However, the magistrates upheld Álvarez’s July ruling, which denied
extradition, for six of the 13 charges presented by Peru.

The Peruvian courts can only try Fujimori for the cases in which
extradition was approved, unless the Peruvian government of Alan García
decides to ask Chile to reconsider and grant extradition for other
cases, said the representative of the Peruvian state in the extradition
trial, lawyer Alfredo Etcheberry, who added that he was "very
satisified" with the ruling.

Justice Chaigneau said it "was much easier than expected" for the
five-judge panel to reach a decision, and dismissed speculation that
the Court had been under any pressure.

In his first statements to a Peruvian radio station, Fujimori, who is
accompanied by his daughter Sachi in a posh condominium on the
northside of Santiago where he is under house arrest, said the ruling
was not a surprise.

"My plan was to come through here (Chile) and substantially reduce the
number of accusations," said the former president, who fled to Japan in
2000 as his government collapsed amidst a major corruption scandal, but
inexplicably flew to Chile in late 2005, where he was immediately
arrested..

The 69-year-old former president was under preventive detention in
Chile from Nov. 7, 2005 to May 18, 2006, when he was released on bail.
He was then placed under house arrest in June.

Fujimori’s Chilean defence attorney, Gabriel Saliasnik, also said he
was not surprised by the verdict. He underlined, however, that the
number of charges faced by Fujimori have been sharply whittled down
from the original 60 to just seven.

In July, Fujimori, who holds dual Japanese-Peruvian nationality, ran in
Japan’s parliamentary elections for the far-right People’s New Party.
However, he was not elected. His attempt to gain a seat in the Japanese
Senate was widely interpreted as a strategy to gain support from Japan
in case he was extradited to Peru.

On Friday, President Michelle Bachelet’s spokesman Ricardo Lagos Weber
underlined Chile’s "commitment to human rights" and said the government
would make sure the ruling was enforced.

"As a government, we do not comment on legal rulings. But I would like
to say that I am satisfied that the justice system has been able to
carry out its job in tranquillity," said Bachelet.

The five justices reached their decision on Sept. 10, but waited until
it was drawn up and reviewed before announcing it. Although the local
press had heard that the magistrates had ruled in favour of
extradition, nothing was certain until Friday’s official statement.

"I believe this is a great joy for the entire continent," a visibly
moved Raúl Paiba, the president of the Committee of Peruvian Refugees
in Chile, told IPS. Paiba left Peru 15 years ago, fleeing political
persecution.

"Until last night we had doubts (about the extradition). It was
unpredictable, but in the end the people’s struggle against impunity
won out," said the activist. He added, however, that he fears that the
trial of Fujimori in Peru will not be rigorous, because of the alliance
that he said has been formed between the García administration and
Fujimori’s supporters.

A press release issued by the Washington Office on Latin America
(WOLA), a non-governmental organisation that promotes human rights,
democracy, and social and economic justice in U.S. policy towards Latin
America, said the verdict was "a landmark for the defence of human
rights."

"This is a grand day for Peru, for Chile, and for all of the Americas,"
said WOLA senior associate John Walsh. "Today’s ruling is a major blow
against impunity, which has bedeviled Latin America for so long."

And Vienna Colucci, director of Amnesty International's International
Justice Programme, said in a statement that "The decision sends a
strong message that no one stands above the law. Tens of thousands of
people were affected by the crimes committed while Alberto Fujimori was
head of state. No one can undo the suffering they endured."

"But today, we are one step closer to seeing justice served. Amnesty
International USA joins our colleagues and allies in Peru and Chile in
celebrating this victory. Their persistence ensured that Fujimori would
not escape accountability."

Human Rights Watch’s Vivanco said "This landmark ruling is a huge step
forward for Chile. After years of wrestling with Pinochet’s legacy of
atrocities, Chile is now building a positive record on human rights and
justice."

Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) died last year at
the age of 91, without ever coming to trial for the thousands of human
rights violations committed by his regime. (END/2007)