SANTIAGO, Chile – Peru formally asked Chile on Tuesday to extradite former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on human rights and corruption charges.
Peru's ambassador to Chile and a Peruvian special prosecutor delivered to Chile 12 sealed boxes of documents detailing allegations that include 25 death-squad killings in the 1990s, illegal phone tapping, diversion of state funds to the intelligence service, bribery of politicians, and the transfer of $15 million to Fujimori's spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos.
The ambassador, Jose Antonio Meir, said the documents contain "strong and sufficient proof of the charges" against Fujimori.
Fujimori has been under arrest in Chile at Peru's request since his surprise arrival two months ago from Japan, where he lived in exile after his 1990-2000 authoritarian regime collapsed amid a corruption scandal.
Fujimori said he was stopping in Chile on his way to seek a return to the presidency in Peru. Fujimori has denied Peru's allegations against him, saying they are being used by rivals to block his plan to run for president in April.
The Washington-based organization Human Rights Watch has said it has evidence supporting charges that include the killings in 1991 and 1992 by a death squad called Grupo Colina, and some of the allegations of financial wrongdoing.
The Chilean Foreign Ministry must now transfer the Peruvian request to the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule after a process lasting several months.
Chilean presidential spokesman Osvaldo Puccio said Fujimori would receive "due process."
Fujimori is being held at an academy for corrections officers, where he has received repeated visits from his children and some aides, prompting protests from Peru that he was being allowed to carry out political activities. Chilean authorities warned Fujimori that such politicking would be illegal.
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