Fujimori hits out as trial ends

Mr Fujimori accused the Peruvian government of double standards

Ex-Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori has accused the government of persecution in testimony at the end of his 15-month trial for alleged human rights abuses.

Mr Fujimori said that a series of false accusations had been stitched together and presented as evidence against him.

The 70-year-old is accused of being responsible for death-squad massacres in which 25 people were killed.

He denies the charges, but faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. A verdict is expected on Tuesday.

Mr Fujimori was president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.

'Dirty war'

The former president told the court in the capital, Lima, that the charges against him were both motivated by revenge and exaggerated.

FUJIMORI CHARGES 1991 Barrios Altos killings: 15 dead 1992 La Cantuta killings: 10 dead 1992 illegal detention: journalist Gustavo Gorriti and businessman Samuel Dyer Separate trial on corruption and illegal wiretapping charges

There was no proof, he said, that he had overseen a death squad as part of a dirty war against suspected Maoist Shining Path guerrillas.

"I completely reject that I gave any orders in an allegedly parallel system to put into practice a dirty war to defeat terrorism," he said.

Accusing the authorities of double stands, he asked why leaders of other Peruvian governments under which killings allegedly occurred were not on trial.

His testimony followed that of more than 80 witnesses in over 150 court sessions.

Mr Fujimori resigned as president in 2000 while in Tokyo. He stayed there for the next five years before flying to Chile in 2005, where he was arrested.

Two years later he was extradited to Peru.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version