PERU FORMALLY CHARGES FUJIMORI WITH MURDER Lima, March 10 (RHC)-- Judicial authorities in Peru have formally charged former President Alberto Fujimori with murder, and he could be tried in Japan -- where he is currently in self-exile. According to Peruvian Justice Minister Diego Garcia, the former president has been accused of extra judicial executions during a military assault against the Japanese embassy in Lima nearly four years ago. In the attack, 14 members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement were killed, along with one of the 72 hostages taken by the rebel commando. The same charges have also been brought against fugitive former national security chief Vladimiro Montesinos and former head of the joint chiefs of staff, General Nicolas de Bari Hermoza Rios. Earlier this week, authorities in Peru announced that they would exhume the bodies of the 14 rebels to verify whether they were killed in combat or were summarily executed. Family members of the rebels have petitioned the courts to find out exactly what happened in April 1997 when the military stormed the Japanese embassy. Ordered by then- President Alberto Fujimori, the elite force entered the compound through several tunnels dug under the residence of the Japanese ambassador to Lima. According to the Peruvian minister of justice, one of the hostages and a former Japanese diplomat -- Hidetaka Ogura -- saw three rebels taken alive. Ogura first published his eye-witness report in December, and has now decided to cooperate with Peruvian authorities in the investigation. Fujimori and the military commando always maintained that the 14 were killed resisting the attack, but new evidence may show otherwise. The head of Peru's justice ministry said that the charges are serious enough that any court in the world could put on trial the former president and those directly responsible for summarily executing the rebels -- including the courts of Japan. Peru and Japan are signatories of an international treaty - along with the European Union - that allows signatory nations to initiate trial proceedings in such cases. _______________________________________________ Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list
