|
Spanish judge accepts Chile's decision on not extraditing Pinochet
Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon said Thursday in Bolivia that he has to accept the fact that former Chilean military ruler Augusto Pinochet would not be extradited to Spain because of health reasons, according to reports reaching here from Bolivia.
"We have to accept it because it is the country-ruled-by-law system," Garzon said in La Paz, administrative capital of Bolivia,in reference to the 2001 medical diagnosis that considered Pinochet was unable to stand a trial.
Garzon made Pinochet under house arrest in London in October 1998 and almost successfully extradited him to Spain, but failed after a British jury prevented the extradition due to his deteriorating health.
In March 2000, Pinochet returned to Chile. This year the Chilean Supreme Court exonerated the former Chilean dictator from charges of murdering 57 people and kidnapping 18 in 1973 through the so-called Death Caravan.
"I deeply respect the decisions of the Chilean justice," said Garzon, who is attending a seminar in Bolivia.
At a press conference in La Paz, the Spanish judge said every legal procedure begins with "the aim of reaching the end of the road" but it "does not always end as one wants."
No proof whatsoever, says Fujimori of extradition request
Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori said on Thursday that "there is not a single line of proof" in the extradition request presented by Peru to Japan.
Earlier on Thursday, Peru's ambassador in Tokyo, Luis Macchiavello, delivered the 700-page extradition request to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, accusing Fujimori of masterminding massacres that killed 25 people in 1991 and 1992.
In a communique reaching here from the Japanese capital, Tokyo,Fujimori asked: "How can it happen that in the entire file there is not a single line of proof?"
Fujimori, who fled to Japan amid a serious political crisis arising from his controversial re-election, has been living in Japan in exile since November 2000.
Following 10 years in office since 1990, Fujimori announced on Nov. 19 2000 in Tokyo, his resignation, which he sent to the Peruvian Congress by fax. He was sacked days later by the congress.
The former leader, who has dual nationalities of Japan and Peru,also dismissed the accusation that involves him in the killing of 15 civilians in 1991, in the neighborhood of Barrios Altos in Lima,and the disappearance of nine students and a professor of La Cantuta University in 1992.
"I am completely innocent," Fujimori stressed, charging that the extradition bid was a plot by oppositions to keep him from returning to Peru to resume his political life.
However, Judge Jose Lecaros of Peru's Supreme Court emphasized the need for the extradition request on Thursday. "The citizens want Japan to understand that it is a need for the Peruvian peopleto have a fair trial with the guarantees of process, under international supervision. Peru needs to know the truth," he said.
Lecaros ruled out a political persecution against the former president as the Peruvian government has no intervention in judicial affairs.
Japan admitted Fujimori's identity and rejected the extradition,saying that a Japanese citizen is subject to trials in Japan and there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.
Guatemalan former coup leader registers as presidential candidate
Efrain Rios Montt, on behalf of the ruling Guatemalan Republican Front party, finally registered on Thursday as a presidential candidate for the Nov. 9 elections, according to reports from Guatemala City.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal accepted the registration of the77-year-old retired general, also a former coup leader, in the wake of Wednesday's decision by the Guatemalan Constitutional Court removing the ban on his candidacy.
"This is not a victory for the (party) or for the general but for the country," Rios Montt told reporters after receiving candidate credential.
"The constitutional condition of the State ruled by law is kept," he said.
The candidacy of Rios Montt had been rejected on numerous occasions in the past 13 years and Courts have blocked his attempts to register as a presidential candidate in 1990 and 1995,for the 1985 constitution bars former coup leader from seeking thepresidency. Rios Montt had repeatedly argued that the ban does notapply to him because it was put in place after his time in power.
Rio Montt, currently the president of Congress, took power in 1982 after ousting the then President Romeo Lucas through a military coup, but he was overthrown 18 months later.
However, the Constitutional Court approved his candidacy Wednesday, saying that ban could not applied retroactively, while legal scholars in Guatemalan city said the decision could be challenged on procedure grounds.
Last week, Rios Montt's sympathizers staged violent disturbances to press for the registration of his candidacy, whichled to three deaths. The protesters destroyed cars and stores and forced the closure of the US embassy and some government buildings.
The former coup leader faces in Spain charges of genocide, terrorism and torture, filed by 1992 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Rigoberta Menchu.
|
