Chile: Flawed Decision Not to Extradite Fujimori

The decision made on July 11, 2007 cannot be reconciled with the opinion of Chief Supreme Court Prosecutor Monica Maldonado, issued in recent weeks, which recommended Fujimori’s extradition.

“The Chilean judge’s decision not to extradite Fujimori to Peru makes little sense,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “The judge completely ignored key pieces of evidence against Fujimori identified by the prosecutor, while giving extraordinary weight to information that’s barely relevant.”

The judge’s decision does not question the fact that most of the human rights abuses and corruption attributed to Fujimori did in fact take place. However, he concludes that there is insufficient evidence of Fujimori’s participation in the crimes.

Human Rights Watch noted that the evidentiary standard for extradition under Chilean law is only that evidence must be sufficient to establish probable cause to file charges against the defendant.

“Whether or not there is sufficient evidence to convict Fujimori should be determined in Peru at a much later stage, after extradition, prosecution, and trial,” said Vivanco. “Yet Judge Alvarez seems not to have understood his limited role, instead making himself the final decider of fact in the case.”

Human Rights Watch said that the judge’s ruling was inconsistent with the evidence in the case files, and believed the ruling would be overturned on appeal.

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