LIMA, Peru — Waving his arms in outrage and shouting that he is innocent, Alberto Fujimori went on trial Monday on charges of using a death squad to wage a dirty war against Shining Path guerrillas and their collaborators.
It is the first time in Peru’s history that a former president faces trial for crimes committed during his administration — and one of the few cases of a Latin American leader being tried after leaving office.
The case is stirring mixed emotions in a country where many still admire Fujimori for defeating a bloody insurgency.
Fujimori faces charges that he authorized the 1992 death-squad slayings of nine students and a professor at La Cantuta University and the 1991 killings of 15 people in a Lima tenement.
He also is charged with ordering the kidnapping of a prominent journalist and a businessman, who were interrogated by army-intelligence agents and released. Fujimori, 69, denies any involvement.
The former Peruvian leader strode into court Monday with the same air of authority he displayed as president. Wearing a pinstriped suit, Fujimori took his seat at a small table with a microphone and immediately started taking notes as the prosecution and defense began their arguments.
As the morning session drew to a close, Fujimori, who had shown no emotion until that point, asked permission to speak. Standing and waving his arms, he said he inherited a nation on the edge of anarchy when he took office.
“I received a country almost in collapse, exhausted by hyperinflation, international financial isolation and widespread terrorism,” said Fujimori, his voice cracking with emotion.
“My government rescued the human rights of 25 million Peruvians with no exceptions. If any detestable acts were committed, I condemn them, but they were not done on my orders. I reject the charges totally. I am innocent and do not accept the prosecutor’s accusation,” he shouted angrily as the chief justice called him to order.
