IPS-English PERU: Fujimori Faces First Sentence Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:51:17 -0800 Ángel Páez LIMA, Dec 11 (IPS) - Peruvian congressman Alejandro Aguinaga, Alberto Fujimori's doctor, said the former president was recovering well Tuesday from the ”crisis of hypertension” that he suffered after his angry outburst on the first day of the human rights trial against him. But although he will not appear in court Tuesday, the second day of the trial, the Supreme Court will issue the first sentence against him, for ordering an illegal search of the home of his former security advisor Vladimiro Montesinos in November 2000. The search was for videotapes of secret meetings in which Montesinos, who is now in prison for corruption, could be seen bribing a broad range of figures, from judges to legislators to media owners. In this specific case, the prosecutors are seeking a seven-year sentence. Doctors at the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE) gave Fujimori 24 hours to rest after his blood pressure climbed Monday. His health will be checked again to determine whether he is fit to appear in court on Wednesday. At the opening of the trial Monday, the prosecutor pointed to evidence that the former president (1990-2000) planned and ordered the killings of 25 people suspected of belonging to the Maoist Shining Path guerrillas. Fujimori ”acted out of vengeance; he applied the law of an eye for an eye, and carried out a dirty war, ordering the physical elimination of people,” said prosecutor José Peláez, who said that even though the former president did not know the identities of the soldiers who committed the killings or those of the victims of the two operations in question, he was the chief, and he was aware of everything that went on. The prosecutor is seeking 30 years for Fujimori for the murders of 15 people killed at a neighbourhood barbecue in the Lima neighbourhood of Barrios Altos in 1991 and of nine students and a professor at the La Cantuta University in 1992, and for the kidnapping and illegal detention of journalist Gustavo Gorriti and businessman Samuel Dyer. He also requested 33.4 million dollars in compensation for the victims and their families. ”The military commandos committed the murders as part of a meticulously structured strategic plan that was approved and developed by an illegal state apparatus,” which was headed by the president, said the prosecutor. Peláez said he had documentary evidence and testimony from the former Army Intelligence Service (SIE) agents who formed part of the ”Colina Group”, a death squad set up to carry out extrajudicial executions of suspected insurgents. Although he entered the courtroom calmly, smiling and waving at his children Keiko, Sachi and Kenji and legislators from his party, and sat quietly during the five and a half hour hearing, the former president often looked uneasy and at times outraged by the accusations. The defence attorneys of the families of the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta victims, whose deaths are blamed on the Colina Group, got the court to approve their request to summon several key witnesses, including Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo, who was arrested and held secretly in prison during Fujimori's April 1992 ”self-coup” when he dissolved Congress, suspended the constitution and purged the judiciary. The court also allowed declassified documents from the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and State Department, which were published Monday by the Washington-based National Security Archive. The documents show that Fujimori personally ordered the military rescue commando to execute unarmed Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) guerrillas who had surrendered after seizing and holding the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Peru, along with numerous hostages, in 1997. Fujimori's lawyer, César Nakazaki, successfully requested the court to summon several military officers who have been convicted for corruption and human rights abuses, who will testify in favour of the former president. The army chief between 1991 and 1998, General Nicolás Hermoza, and the leader of the Colina Group, Santiago Martín, are on the list of witnesses for the defence. But Nakazaki's request raised eyebrows, because Fujimori's defence counsel has denied Hermoza and Martín's claims that the former president knew about the executions. Fujimori's lawyers argue that he did not order any killings and merely carried out a successful counterinsurgency struggle that respected human rights, and that the military was to blame for any excesses. But Peláez debunked that argument and said the Colina Group crimes were made possible because its members enjoyed the president's protection. ”The approval of and the order for the so-called ‘special operations' were given by former president Fujimori, through the chain of command,” said the prosecutor. The president ”established two counter-subversive strategies: one official, visible and conventional, the other secret and clandestine, for tracking down, arresting and eliminating supposed subversives. A clandestine war was approved, an unconventional war, a low-intensity war,” he argued. As the prosecutor read out the charges, Fujimori looked down at his notes. ”The crimes were not the work of a mere army major (Martín). He acted with the full knowledge of the military leadership, which communicated with Fujimori through his advisor Vladimiro Montesinos. The murderers enjoyed total impunity and complete support and protection from the president,” said Peláez. Fujimori ”was never present (at the site of the murders), but he knew perfectly well that his orders would be carried out because he had control of what was happening,” said the prosecutor. ”I am only asking the court to administer justice, so that these things do not happen again.” When the 69-year-old Fujimori was allowed to speak, he shouted furiously that ”during my government the human rights of 25 million Peruvians were rescued, without exception! If any excesses were committed, I condemn them, but they were not done on my orders!” ”Fifty percent of the territory was under the control of the terrorists!” he said, arguing that the victims of ”excesses” were few compared to the number of Peruvians who were saved from the brutal Shining Path guerrillas. As Fujimori waved his arms frantically and pointed his finger at the panel of judges, the magistrate presiding over the hearing warned him to calm down, saying ”I am in charge here.” Meanwhile, Fujimori's children and supporters burst into applause, in front of the families of the 25 people killed by the Colina Group death squad, as the former president shouted about the success of his counterinsurgency policy. ”I am innocent and I reject the accusations!” shouted Fujimori. ***** + National Security Archive (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB237/index.htm) (END/IPS/LA IP HD/TRASP-SW/AP/07) = 12112016 ORP015 NNNN