World

Japan: Citizen Fujimori

December 11, 2000 / 3:51 PM EST / CBS

Japan's government has determined that ousted Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori holds Japanese citizenship, an official said Monday, a development that could allow him to stay in the country as long as he wants.

A government investigation found that Fujimori was born in Peru but registered by his parents at a local Japanese consulate, making him a Japanese citizen, a Foreign Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Fujimori has not revoked his Japanese citizenship, said the official, who works in the ministry's Latin American division. He added that under Peruvian law, Fujimori also holds Peruvian citizenship since he was born in that country.

Javier Valle Riestra, a constitutional expert and former Peruvian prime minister, said his country's constitution requires only that a president be born in Peru and contains no explicit prohibition against duel citizenship.

Fujimori cannot be extradited if he is declared to have Japanese citizenship, since Japan's extradition law does not permit deportation of its nationals. It would have been difficult in any case, since Japan and Peru have no extradition treaty.

Fujimori Targeted
By Rights Marchers

Peruvian residents of Japan were among more than 300 people who rallied and marched down Tokyo's main streets Sunday to protest torture and human rights violations, police said. The demonstration, organized by Amnesty International and including 29 different organizations, was held to mark World Human Rights Day, which commemorates the declaration of the U.N. Human Rights Charter in 1948. The Peruvians wore pictures of Fujimori on their faces and demanded that he return to Peru to explain human rights violations they said were committed under his government.
(Source: AP)

Japan's determination that Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants to Peru, was born in the Andean nation could put to rest persistent rumors to the contrary that would have meant his presidency had been illegitimate.

Hiromi Jitsukawa, an official from Japan's Justice Ministry, said the government would officially reveal its findings "within a matter of days."

Fujimori has been in Japan since mid-November, when a bribery scandal surrounding his former spy chief threatened his rule. The Peruvan congress deposed him in his absence, declaring him unfit for office.

Peruvian authorities are investigating Fujimori's connections with his one-time spymaster, Vladimiro Montesinos, who is accused of controlled a web of money laundering, drug trafficking and influence peddling. The former president could face charges if he returns to Peru.

Fujimori has said he is ready to provide information in Japan but will not return home for the investigations into Montesinos, his right-hand man for 10 years.

Fujimori has repeatedly denied any corruption charges and says they are a campaign to discredit him personally and politically.

Kumamoto, where Fujimori's family records are reportedly kept, is on the island of Kyushu, 565 miles southwest of the capital.

An official in that small southwestern Japanese town said that Fujimori's name had been entered into the ancestral koseki, or family record, even after his parents emigrated to Peru in the early 1930s, Reuters reports.

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