Chile to Extradite Peru's Fujimori

Former Peru's President Alberto Fujimori, right, is escorted by correctional officers in this May 18, 2006 file photo. Chile's Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Fujimori must be extradited to face human rights and corruption charges in Peru. The ruling is final and cannot be appealed. (AP Photo/Roberto Candia) (Roberto Candia - AP)

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori must be extradited to Peru to face trial for corruption and human rights violations, including accusations he ordered the death-squad killings of 25 people, Chile's Supreme Court ruled Friday.

Fujimori, who calls the charges politically motivated, said the development is all according to his plan. He said that while his government made mistakes, his conscience is clear.

"This does not mean that I've been tried, much less convicted. ... I hope that in Peru, there exists the due process to clarify the accusations against me," he told the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio.

While acknowledging "gross failures," he told Peru's RPP radio: "In the trials themselves, I will show that I acted in a correct manner."

Alberto Chaigneau, a member of Chile's Supreme Court, said it was "much easier than expected" to approve the extradition on two human rights violations and five corruption charges stemming from Fujimori's 1990-2000 rule. Six of the 13 charges for which Peru requested extradition were denied.

Fujimori arrived in Chile in November 2005 in a surprise ending to his five-year exile in Japan, where he had fled as his government collapsed in scandal. Peru quickly requested his extradition.

Chile plans to extradite the 69-year-old former ruler as soon as possible. Fujimori's Chilean lawyer, Gabriel Zaliasnik, said the former president would not try to stall.

On Peruvian radio, Fujimori told listeners: "See you soon."

Fujimori was highly popular in the early years of his administration, largely crushing a violent guerrilla movement, overseeing a flourishing economy and building schools and health clinics in rural areas that benefited the poor. But an increasing drift toward authoritarianism and evidence of corruption turned many Peruvians against him.

Still, he retains a large following in Peru where his daughter Keiko was elected to Congress with 600,000 votes _ by far the most of any legislator.

The Washington-based Human Rights Watch said the decision is part of a global trend that began when Britain ruled in 1999 that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet could be extradited to Spain to face torture charges.

Since then, Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic and Liberia's Charles Taylor were both turned over to international war crimes tribunals, but Fujimori is the first former ruler handed over to face trial in his own country's legal system.