Japan to protect 'citizen' Fujimori

By F.J. Khergamvala

TOKYO, DEC. 12. Japan today formally declared that the dismissed former Peruvian President, Mr. Alberto Fujimori is a Japanese national. The government of Mr. Yoshiro Mori, thus announced its obligation not to surrender Mr. Fujimori to Peru where he is required as a witness for a trial against the former President's closest aide.

The Foreign Minister, Mr. Yohei Kono, told a news conference that the Justice Ministry had officially confirmed to him that Mr. Fujimori (62), has Japanese citizenship. ``There is no legal hurdle for him to stay in Japan,'' said Mr. Kono. The Chief Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Yasuo Fukuda, later confirmed this information at his daily press briefing. He added that any requests about extradition of Mr. Fujimori would be dealt with in accordance with Japanese law.

Mr. Kono clarified that as yet no official request for extraditing Mr. Fujimori's had been made by the interim Peruvian government led by Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar. He too seemed to imply grant of protection to Mr. Fujimori. ``If there is a request from the Peruvian government to hand him over, we will deal with the matter based on Japan's domestic law because Mr. Fujimori is a Japanese.'' Until then, he said, Japan ought not to get involved in a matter between Peru and its former leader.

There is no extradition treaty between Japan and Peru. They share a judicial cooperation arrangement, obliging governments to provide only information such as bank accounts in probable cases of money laundering, drugs trafficking etc.

Interest in Mr. Fujimori's citizenship has waxed and waned. Right now importance is attached to it primarily because of a statement in Lima by the head of the congressional (parliamentary) commission investigating the disappearance of Mr. Vladimiro Montesinos, who was Mr. Fujimori's spy chief for the 10 years the latter was in power. Reuters quoted Mr. David Waisman, the head of the five-member commission, as saying that he had twice sought Mr. Fujimori's testimony. A third citation, through a court order, was in the pipeline, he added.

Through media leaks on Monday, officials had indicated that Mr. Fujimori had never renounced his Japanese nationality since birth in Peru. Moreover, Peruvian law does not require that he should have renounced his Japanese citizenship even if he took on Peruvian nationality.

Mr. Fujimori had sought and obtained sanctuary in Japan immediately after he attended an Asia-Pacific summit in Brunei in mid-November. Since then he has gone on a media blitz to absolve himself of involvement in the alleged corruption and embezzlement by his former spy chief. Mr. Fujimori submitted his resignation from Tokyo by fax but the congress in Lima deposed him of his presidency.

There is a widely held belief that doubts about Mr. Fujimori's citizenship were hurriedly cleared up by a political decision to reward him for his ordering of a bold and eventually successful raid on the Japanese Embassy in Lima, which was seized by guerillas in late 1996 during a reception to observe the Emperor's birthday. After months of standing firm and resisting Japanese attempts to force on him a negotiation with the Tupac Amaru guerillas, the raid turned out to be bloodless, so far as Japanese nationals are concerned. This action drew great applause from ordinary Japanese.

Mr. Fujimori has said he will testify if required to, but will do so from Japan. Should there be a formal request for his return to Peru, Japan must balance its appreciation and legal protection for him with its own expectations about reverse extradition of and the need to maintain good relations with the next government in Peru.

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Section  : International
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