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Peru: Fujimori accepts charges during his trial

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Avelino Guillén, the prosecutor in Alberto Fujimori's trial (on the illegal payment to Vladimiro Montesinos of US $15 million dollars as a “compensation for services”) said he was surprised to see that defendant admitted "with complete naturality” the charges.

"I never thought he would admit that,” he said, remarking his belief that this attitude shows the passiveness and tolerance of large Peruvian society's sectors to corruption.

"I'm impressed. This is the first time in the country's history that a former president accepts having committed a crime of corruption ... a carefully planned one, involving a group of operators and authorities to seize funds, " Guillén said.

Fujimori, who will turn 71 this month, will speak in his own defense, and the court could issue its verdict on Monday.

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# Honest Injun says :
16 July, 2009 [ 19:14 ]

Yea  who ever heard of telling the truth in Court?
Way to go, you show them how its done Chino!!!!

# Carlos Benavides says :
16 July, 2009 [ 19:51 ]

Rot in jail fujimori SCUM.

# Carlos Benavides says :
16 July, 2009 [ 20:20 ]

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# Jet says :
17 July, 2009 [ 00:28 ]

I wonder what fujimori's fanatical apostles will say now that fujimori himself is admitting that he did commit these crimes? 
Well actually, I can see one person already said how good he is "way to go"  for admitting that he illegally diverted funds to his own cronies for illicit purposes.  Sad how deluded and brainwashed his followers are lol.

# Carlos Benavides says :
17 July, 2009 [ 01:11 ]

Fujimori gets lengthy jail term
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7988137.stm

# Carlos Benavides says :
17 July, 2009 [ 01:13 ]

I am glad fujimori was punished.
Justice in Peru has finally been served.
All those poor victims.

# Carlos Benavides says :
17 July, 2009 [ 01:35 ]

Fujimori gets 25 years for human rights crimes

(AFP) – Apr 6, 2009

LIMA (AFP) — Peru's former strongman Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison, following his conviction for "crimes against humanity" committed during his decade-long iron-fisted rule.

A special court in Lima tried and convicted the former president for his role in crimes committed by an army death squad during his 1990-2000 rule.

But an impassive Fujimori, 70, immediately said he would appeal the finding, while his daughter Keiko -- a congresswoman considering a run for the presidency in 2011 -- called for peaceful protests against what she called an "unjust" verdict.

"They've won the battle but not the war," she told AFP.

More than 2,000 Fujimori supporters demonstrated after the result, to show their anger.

"If I see that judge, I swear by my mother I'll kill him," said one elderly woman protester.

Human rights groups, however, hailed the result, calling it "historic" and a "milestone" in making wayward former heads of state accountable for their crimes.

Fujimori maintained his innocence throughout his 15-month trial, which counted as the longest and most expensive in Peru's history.

He claimed he was kept unaware of the actions of the death squad when it carried out the main crimes examined by the court: the murders of 15 people attending a Lima barbecue in 1991; and the abduction and murders of nine university students and their professor in the capital the following year.

But the court found he authorized and protected the army unit, known as La Colina.

It also determined that he ordered the 1992 kidnappings of a businessman and a journalist.

The crimes occurred during the darkest days of Peru's two-decade fight against leftist rebels that left 70,000 people dead or missing.

Fujimori's tough stand against the insurgents -- epitomized by his ordering commandos to storm the Japanese ambassador's residence in April 1997, ending a four-month hostage drama organized by Tupac Amaru guerrillas -- eventually crushed their movements.

But that legacy, while it won plaudits from many in Peru, left an uneasy conviction for many more that he had crossed the line into brutality -- a suspicion confirmed by Tuesday's verdict.

International observers said the three judges handling the case scrupulously observed due process.

The chief judge in the case, Cesar San Martin, said Fujimori's crimes had been "proved beyond all reasonable doubt."

Fujimori sat without emotion, mostly writing in a pad, as the verdict was read out.

San Martin added: "These crimes are crimes of state. Murder and serious injury under the law constitute crimes against humanity."

Fujimori gave no response other than to say in a dry tone: "Your honor, I am taking my recourse to nullify (the verdict)."

Fujimori's doctor, Alejandro Aguinaga, also one of eight Fujimori deputies in congress, said the long prison term equated to a "death sentence" for a man who already suffered bouts with hypertension and cancer.

"A sentence of 25 years for a 70-year-old person like the ex-president is the same as a life term, and therefore death," he said.

But Amnesty International, in a statement, called Fujimori's conviction "a crucial milestone in the global struggle against impunity."

"What this sentence implies is that the ends cannot justify the means," Michael Reed Hurtado from the International Center for Transitional Justice told AFP after attending the court verdict.

Fujimori is already serving a six-year sentence for an unrelated, separate trial in which he was found guilty of abuse of power. He faces two future trials on other corruption charges.

Fujimori resigned in 2000 by fax from a Tokyo hotel, where he had fled to escape a corruption scandal. Japan considered Fujimori to be a national by descent and refused to extradite him.

But Fujimori traveled in 2005 to Chile to restart his political career in Peru. He was arrested on arrival and eventually extradited to Peru in 2007.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gyYAKP7-g6qXDaCoQmI2-xBl2J2Q

# Carlos Benavides says :
17 July, 2009 [ 01:38 ]

PERU: Fujimori Admits Illegal Payment to Spy Chief
By Ángel Páez

LIMA, Jul 13 (IPS) - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) admitted that he paid 15 million dollars to his former security chief Vladimiro Montesinos on Sept. 22, 2000, just a few hours before the adviser fled to Panama.

Fujimori said it was true that he gave Montesinos the funds, but argued that he did not commit a crime because he paid back the money to the state coffers.

Prosecutor Avelino Guillén, who accused Fujimori of embezzlement and forgery, is seeking an eight-year sentence and 666,000 dollars in reparations to the state.

The former president said "I only accept the deeds; I accept neither the legal responsibility, nor the punishment nor the civil reparations."

Guillén argued that instead of turning Montesinos over to the justice system, Fujimori gave his spy chief the money he asked for as a condition for leaving the country in the midst of the corruption scandal that brought down the government in November 2000.

The prosecutor pointed out that the former president paid Montesinos with public funds after the opposition leaked a video in which the former intelligence adviser is seen bribing Congressman Alberto Kouri to switch party loyalties and thus give Fujimori's supporters a majority in parliament.

A sentence could be handed down on Friday, Jul. 17 or Monday, Jul. 20.

Fujimori's defence lawyer César Nakazaki argued that his client did not forge documents to obtain the 15 million dollars in public funds, which were provided to him the then economy and defence ministers.

Nor do the embezzlement charges apply, according to Nakazaki, because the president paid the funds back.

But Guillén told IPS that Fujimori's acknowledgement of paying Montesinos the 15 million dollars was enough to get him convicted.

The prosecutor's office has presented evidence of crimes carried out by Montesinos on Fujimori's orders, said Guillén. And because of those crimes, "Fujimori paid Montesinos 15 million dollars for his silence, before he (Montesinos) left for Panama. The ex-president has admitted all of this," said Guillén.

"Fujimori also admitted that on Nov. 2, 2000 he returned the 15 million dollars, and with a totally cynical attitude, his defence counsel argued that because of this repayment, the crime of embezzlement no longer existed. This argument lacks a legal basis because the law penalises the mere misappropriation of public funds. Even if he paid back the money, the crime is not wiped clean, and punishment is in order," the prosecutor added.

If Fujimori had not partially or totally confessed, he would have faced a lengthy trial in which witnesses would have testified, evidence would have been presented and the testimony of his former ministers would have been introduced.

Under the circumstances, the court will not summon former economy minister Carlos Boloña, who in an earlier trial declared that Fujimori ordered him to deliver 15 million dollars to former defence minister General Carlos Bergamino for a supposed campaign against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas along the border with that country.

Boloña said at the time that Fujimori told him the money was actually to be used to pay Montesinos an "indemnity."

"Fujimori did not want to expose himself to a public accusation by one of his former ministers," lawyer Gloria Cano with the APRODEH human rights association told IPS.

Cano defended the families of the victims of two high profile human rights violations committed by an Army Intelligence Service (SIE) death squad known as the Colina Group, in relation with which Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in April.

In the first massacre, 15 people - including a young boy – were killed at a November 1991 barbecue in the Barrios Altos neighbourhood in Lima, and in the second nine students and a professor were kidnapped from La Cantuta University in July 1992 and murdered.

The former president "wants to give the country the impression that he paid Montesinos the 15 million dollars to save democracy, which is why he used public funds which he would later pay back," said Cano.

"But Fujimori should have to explain where he got the 15 million dollars to pay back what he got from the Defence Ministry," she said.

Former prime minister Federico Salas and former economy minister Boloña have already been convicted of taking part in the secret operation to remove 15 million dollars from the treasury to pay Montesinos.

Guillén said the aim of Fujimori's defence counsel is to earn him a lighter sentence on the grounds that he paid back the funds.

"But the president's declaration of the origins of the money he used to return the Defence Ministry funds is still pending," said the prosecutor. "He has no way out, because if he says that money also came out of the treasury, that would still be embezzlement. Unless he says he got the funds from somewhere else."

The theory of the prosecutor's office is that the money came from the illegal transfers that Montesinos made to Fujimori from the National Intelligence Service (SIN), which the then president kept in the government palace.

His former ministers testified that Fujimori called them to the government palace on Nov. 2, 2000 to be witnesses to the return of the 15 million dollars.

The money was delivered in two briefcases by Peru's then ambassador to Japan, Víctor Aritomi – Fujimori's brother-in-law.

Unlike the human rights trial, this time Fujimori's children – congresswoman and presidential candidate Keiko and her younger brother Kenyi – were not in the courtroom.

Montesinos handed the 15 million dollars over to arms dealers Zvi Sudit, Ilan Weil and James Stone, who transferred part of the money to the intelligence adviser's accounts in Switzerland. (END/2009)


http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47646

# Carlos Benavides says :
17 July, 2009 [ 01:43 ]

This is an article on The Families who lost loved ones under Fujimoris Genocide:

Go to link below-
http://larr.unm.edu/notisur/peru-former-president-alberto-fujimori-convicted-of-crimes-against-humanity

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