Fujimori stays in prison

On January 3, the Peruvian government formally asked Chilean authorities to extradite former President Alberto Fujimori [IJT-30-36]. The Peruvian authorities submitted more than 10,000 pages of documents to support the 12 charges in the extradition request. The most serious charges involve the murders of 15 people in Lima in 1991 and the assassination of nine students and a professor from Lima's teacher-training college, La Cantuta, the following year. Fujimori is accused of having made it possible for these crimes to be committed by members of a paramilitary group, Colina, which operated in the armed forces. A Peruvian court is currently trying Colina members for these two crimes, as well as the deaths of 13 other people [IJT-32]. Chilean Supreme Court Justice Orlando Alvarez denied a motion for an immediate hearing, which would have given Fujimori an opportunity to request release from the detention center where he has been held since November 6. On the contrary, Judge Alvarez ruled that the former president should be kept in detention "indefinitely" while the extradition process continues.