Peru’s ex-president goes on trial
Fujimori accused of complicity in murders carried out by an army death squad.
Human rights allegations
He is accused of human rights violations related to the killings of 15 people by security forces at a party in Lima in 1991 and the deaths of nine students and a professor in 1992.
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A truth and reconciliation commission later found that none of the victims were connected to the Shining Path, which had carried out an armed campaign against the government.
Fujimori also faces charges over the kidnapping and detention of a journalist and businessman critical of his regime.
The trial will seek to determine whether he ordered or knew about the crimes, as alleged by Santiago Martin Rivas, a former operations chief of the La Colina death squad.
| “If there were horrible things done, it was not on my order and I condemn them” Alberto Fujimori, former Peruvian president |
“I declare myself innocent,” he said in court. “I don’t accept the charges against me … I never ordered the death of anybody.”
Fujimori also defended his decade in office, saying he had turned around a country “that was virtually collapsing”.
“My government defended the human rights of 25 million Peruvians, without a single exception,” he said. “If there were horrible things done, it was not on my order and I condemn them.”
In later trials, Fujimori is expected to face allegations that he illegally used $15 million in state money to pay Vladimiro Montesinos, his intelligence chief, to resign.
Fujimori initially received widespread support for his crackdown on the rebels and his economic reforms, which ended hyperinflation inherited from the previous government and spurred record foreign investment.