Fujimori back in Peru to face trial on corruption

LIMA – Former President Alberto Fujimori returned to Peru to face charges of corruption and sanctioning death-squad killings, a grim homecoming for the strongman who fled the country seven years ago as his government collapsed in scandal.

The plane carrying the 69-year-old former ruler landed in a heavy mist at Lima’s Las Palmas air force base on Saturday, a day after Chile’s Supreme Court authorised his extradition. He was then flown by helicopter to a police base, where he is to be held until a permanent facility is prepared for his detention.Some 700 supporters who gathered outside the police air terminal across town to greet him were frustrated when his plane was diverted to the air base.”We have come to welcome Fujimori, to tell him that we are with him and will accompany him wherever he goes so that he feels he has the support of his people,” his daughter Keiko Fujimori, who was elected to Congress in 2006, told The Associated Press.Fujimori’s extradition from Chile has provoked reactions ranging from elation to indignation.Some Peruvians believe he should be tried for his controversial crackdown on the bloody Shining Path insurgency and alleged corruption during his 1990-2000 presidency.But Fujimori maintains a following in Peru.A recent poll showed that 23 per cent of Peruvians want to see him back in politics and some worry his return could provoke turmoil in a country emerging from decades of political and economic chaos.Fujimori was widely admired for ushering in economic stability and defeating the Shining Path rebel movement, but his presidency increasingly came under fire as it drifted toward authoritarianism and evidence surfaced of corruption.Nampa-APHe was then flown by helicopter to a police base, where he is to be held until a permanent facility is prepared for his detention.Some 700 supporters who gathered outside the police air terminal across town to greet him were frustrated when his plane was diverted to the air base.”We have come to welcome Fujimori, to tell him that we are with him and will accompany him wherever he goes so that he feels he has the support of his people,” his daughter Keiko Fujimori, who was elected to Congress in 2006, told The Associated Press.Fujimori’s extradition from Chile has provoked reactions ranging from elation to indignation.Some Peruvians believe he should be tried for his controversial crackdown on the bloody Shining Path insurgency and alleged corruption during his 1990-2000 presidency.But Fujimori maintains a following in Peru.A recent poll showed that 23 per cent of Peruvians want to see him back in politics and some worry his return could provoke turmoil in a country emerging from decades of political and economic chaos.Fujimori was widely admired for ushering in economic stability and defeating the Shining Path rebel movement, but his presidency increasingly came under fire as it drifted toward authoritarianism and evidence surfaced of corruption.Nampa-AP