Peru's prosecutor demands 20-year jail sentence for Fujimori

Peru's prosecutor is demanding a 20-year sentence for ex-president Alberto Fujimori and 3 million US dollars in damages, the local Daily El Comercio reported Wednesday.

Prosecutor Lidia Vega has to seek extradition of Fujimori from Japan before putting him to jail. She also wants 13 former cabinet ministers under Fujimori to be sentenced to 12-18 years in prison, according to the report.

After serving their sentences, they must be driven out of the country, said the report citing the prosecutor.

Fujimori seized power during a coup on April 5, 1992. He then commanded Peru's military to shut down Congress and the courts. All those were "prepared in advance," Vega was quoted as saying.

He fled Peru in November 2000 amid a corruption scandal and has lived in Japan, where he is protected from extradition by citizenship extended to him because he had Japanese parents.

The former president and his ministers are held responsible for the kidnapping and the illegal detention of scores of opposition politicians, union leaders and journalists.

They are facing charges of crime against democracy, corruption, human rights violation and fraud in the 2000 elections. But he has denied any wrongdoing, saying he is the victim of a political persecution.

Source: Xinhua