Santiago, Chile – Jailed former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori lost a third bid for freedom on Tuesday as a judge declined to release him during an extradition case.
Judge Orlando Alvarez rejected a request by Fujimori’s defense to let the 67-year-old former leader stand trial while free or under house arrest. He is being held at an academy for corrections officers.
“Given the security conditions at his current arrest site, which guarantees his physical integrity, he should remain there,” ruled Alvarez, who has questioned Fujimori there three times.
Chile arrested Fujimori at the request of the Peruvian government, which has requested his extradition on charges that include allowing paramilitary death squad accused of murdering 25 people and bribing legislators.
Fujimori has denied all the charges, calling them a political move aimed at blocking his plans to again run for president. Peru’s electoral board has barred him from running in the election set for April.
The former authoritarian ruler had fled his country and sought asylum in Japan in 2000 when his decade-long government collapsed amid a corruption scandal. He resigned the presidency from Tokyo via fax.
