WORLD / Asia-Pacific |
Peru's Fujimori announces bid for Japan parliamentary seat(Xinhua)Updated: 2007-06-28 09:37 LIMA - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has decided to stand for a seat in Japan's upper house, his spokesman said Wednesday. Fujimori made the decision after a week of deliberation and would soon make a statement explaining his decision, said Carlos Raffo, a lawmaker with the ex-president's Alliance for the Future party. Fujimori, 68, fled to Japan in 2000 when his government collapsed amid corruption scandals. The son of Japanese parents, he claimed Japanese citizenship on reaching there and the Japanese government ignored repeated extradition requests from Peru. He faces 10 charges of corruption and two of violating human rights. In 2005, Fujimori was arrested in Chile when he arrived unexpectedly from Japan, in an apparent attempt to stage a political comeback in Peru. He has been under house arrest at his residence near the Chilean capital of Santiago since early June, pending the Supreme Court's ruling on his extradition to Peru. Raffo dismissed media speculation that Fujimori's action is an attempt to avoid extradition, saying that running for election as a Japanese lawmaker does not contradict with standing on trial back in Peru. Japan's opposition Kokumin Shinto Party, or People's New Party, has offered to back him as a candidate for the upper house election in July.
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