www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/28/ap3869334.html
Alberto Fujimori speaks of returning to the presidency in Peru and he's running for Senate in Japan. But his hopes of staying out of prison depend on a court in Chile. In an interview with The Associated Press late Wednesday, the former Peruvian leader confirmed he had accepted a small party's offer to run for parliament in Japan "because we do not have a presidential election in Peru soon. "I still have my followers in Peru, and many of them are happy because a political party in such an important country as Japan has called on me to run. This is something very important for them," said Fujimori, who holds both Peruvian and Japanese citizenship. But Fujimori's political aspirations seem almost as unlikely as his puzzling return to South America from exile in Japan, where he fled in 2000 as his government collapsed under a flurry of scandals. In Japan, as a citizen, he was safe from extradition even as Peruvian courts stacked up charges against him, including bribery, misuse of government funds and sanctioning death squad killings. But Chilean authorities imprisoned him when he arrived in November 2005 and he's now under house arrest awaiting a court ruling on whether he should be extradited to neighboring Peru to face charges of corruption and human rights violations. Fujimori, 68, expresses confidence - not shared by many - that he will not be extradited, that his legal problems will eventually vanish and that he will be able to pursue politics in two separate countries. "I am confident because I worked in a proper manner," he said. Fujimori was highly popular in the early years of his decade-long administration, largely crushing a violent guerrilla movement and overseeing a flourishing economy. But an increasing drift toward authoritarianism and evidence of corruption eventually turned many against him. Still, he retains many followers in Peru, where his daughter Keiko was elected to Congress in April. Fujimori's Peruvian foes say they suspect his Japanese candidacy is part of a bid to escape justice, though it is unclear how. What a terrible disappointment," President Alan Garcia told journalists. The leading Lima daily El Comercio said in an editorial Thursday that Fujimori's planned run confirms a "pattern of cowardly behavior that makes him turn to Japan when he's in a jam." Judge Orlando Alvarez, who is handling the extradition case, said the Japanese election will have no bearing on his ruling: "That is a personal situation of his, not related to the judicial issue," he said. The spokesman for Chilean President Michelle Bachelet also said that Chile's government would not be swayed by Japanese politics. "I can guarantee that the government will make sure the Court ruling is respected, whatever it may be," said Ricardo Lagos Weber. Fujimori says he is focusing on his run for the Japanese Senate on behalf of the People's New Party. "I've decided to run for the Japanese Parliament because I am convinced I may contribute to tackle serious problems we have in Japan." While it seems unlikely that Fujimori will be able to campaign in person, there's nothing in the Japanese election law banning a candidate under house arrest overseas from running for office, Internal Affairs Ministry official Tetsuya Kikuchi said. In Chile, however, the law prohibits foreigners engaging in political activities, which could limit Fujimori's campaigning from his rented residence at an expensive neighborhood just north of Santiago.
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