Prosecutor backs Fujimori charges

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori denies any wrongdoing

A prosecutor in Chile has recommended that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori be extradited to Peru to face human rights and corruption charges.

State prosecutor Monica Maldonado made her non-binding recommendation in a report for Chile's Supreme Court.

Mr Fujimori, president of Peru from 1990 to 2000, was detained in Chile in November 2005 while returning to Peru from self-imposed exile in Japan.

He denies the charges and is fighting Peru's extradition request.

However, the former Peruvian leader vowed in an interview last month that he would respect the court's ruling.

Improved relations

In a statement issued by Ms Maldonado's office, the prosecutor said two charges of human rights violations and nine charges of corruption made by the Peruvian authorities should be accepted.

Ms Maldonado did, however, reject one of the corruption charges.

She will now pass on her recommendations to the Supreme Court judge due to rule on Mr Fujimori's case, Orlando Alvarez.

According to Chilean law the judge must relay the report to both parties before his ruling.

The charges against Mr Fujimori include the killing by death squad of 25 people in two incidents known as La Cantuta and Barrios Altos.

They also cover alleged illegal phone tapping, the siphoning of state funds to the intelligence service, bribery of politicians and the transfer of $15m (£8.6m) to Mr Fujimori's spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos.

Mr Fujimori was initially held under house arrest for six months after being detained in Chile in 2005.

He was later released on condition that he remained in the country until a court ruled on the extradition request.

The BBC's Daniel Schweimler says one of the reasons the case has taken so long to resolve is because of the traditionally frosty relations between Chile and Peru.

But those relations have warmed in recent months, and while the Chilean judge still needs to approve the extradition, our correspondent says it seems as though Mr Fujimori will soon be appearing in a Peruvian courtroom.