Thu Nov 29 02:47:44 200717

Fetching...
 
YOU ARE HERE: Homepage > Newsdesk > Article
Peru Fujimori trial starts for stealing from aide
12 Oct 2007 17:54:18 GMT
Source: Reuters
LIMA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Scandal-plagued former President Alberto Fujimori will appear in court in Peru on Friday for the first time since being extradited from Chile, on charges of stealing, paying bribes and ordering murders during the 1990s.

In closed-door sessions, judges will try Fujimori for allegedly directing aides to break into the house of his former spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, to remove 40 boxes of videos and tapes that documented corruption in his government.

"He was the mastermind behind an illegal seizure," Jose Clarke, one of the lawyers for the prosecution, told Reuters.

The trial for breaking-and-entering could last two months and Fujimori -- who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000 -- faces a seven-year prison sentence. But this is considered the least serious of dozens of charges he faces.

Fujimori critics are gearing up for Nov. 26, the start of a public -- and likely televised -- trial on charges he told police squads to carry out two massacres and two kidnappings at a time when Peru was battling the Maoist Shining Path insurgency.

Fujimori's supporters plan to rally on Friday in the hopes that their leader, who is credited with ending hyperinflation and defeating the Shining Path, will be absolved.

The human rights trial will be followed by two other trials, and all the court proceedings against Fujimori could drag on for years and include dozens of witnesses. In total, Fujimori, 69, could be sent to jail for 30 years.

One trial will be for wiretapping political opponents and paying bribes to broadcasters and Congressmen. The other will be for paying $15 million to Montesinos, ostensibly for service to his country but apparently to keep him quiet about corruption.

Montesinos was Fujimori's right-hand man for a decade and their hardball tactics helped defeat the Shining Path.

But now the two are legal adversaries -- each blaming the other for the regime's excesses.

Montesinos, in prison since 2001 on corruption charges, has said he was just carrying out his boss's orders.

As Fujimori's third term in office collapsed in scandals he traveled to Japan, his parents' birthplace, and resigned the presidency via fax.

He spent five years in Japan before flying to Chile, where he was picked up on an international warrant and lived for two years before being extradited last month.
AlertNet news is provided by

Delicio.us  |   Digg  |   NewsVine  |   Reddit                                                                                  Permalink

Chilean prostitute auctions sex for charity
Chile aims to clear fuel slick from Antarctic ship
Peru police kill Shining Path commander in drug zone
Peru police kill Shining Path commander in drug zone
Brazil military in need of new weapons - report
Child Friendly Spaces in Tocopilla
How the Earthquake Affected my Children
UPDATED--Powerful Earthquake Shakes Chile: ADRA Responds
Aid for earthquake victims in Chile
Powerful Earthquake Shakes Chile: ADRA Responds
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-11-24T170318Z_01_STG203_RTRIDSP_2_ANTARCTICA-CRUISELINER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/STG203.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-11-24T170145Z_01_STG202_RTRIDSP_2_ANTARCTICA-CRUISELINER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/STG202.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-11-24T165648Z_01_STG204_RTRIDSP_2_ANTARCTICA-CRUISELINER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/STG204.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-11-24T164758Z_01_STG201_RTRIDSP_2_ANTARCTICA-CRUISELINER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/STG201.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-11-24T003400Z_01_STG111_RTRIDSP_2_CHILE-SHIPWRECK_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/STG111.htm

Chilean Air Force personnel (in blue) help passengers of the M/S Explorer cruise ship which hit an iceberg off the coast of the Antarctica, as they arrive on lifeboats at Fildes Bay on King George Island, where Chile has a research base, in this photo taken November 23, 2007 and released by the Chilean Army on November 24, 2007. High winds and poor visibility kept the shipwrecked passengers stuck in barracks on bases in Antarctica on Saturday, a day after their cruise ship struck ice and sank. More than 150 passengers and crew escaped unhurt after being evacuated by lifeboat on Friday in calm waters from the ship that hit ice off King George Island in Antarctica. REUTERS/Chilean Navy/Handout (ANTARCTICA). EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.



URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12436893.htm

For our full disclaimer and copyright information please visit http://www.alertnet.org