Peru's ex-president Alberto Fujimori was put under medical
observation in his cell on Sunday after showing signs of high blood
pressure and flu following his extradition flight from Chile.
Peru's Justice Ministry said in a statement that the watch is
due to signs of moderately high blood pressure.
Fujimori arrived in Lima from Chile on Saturday after judges
there agreed to extradite him on two counts of human rights
violations and five counts of corruption.
He spent Saturday night in a 15-square-meter cell with
reinforced glass windows in the National Police's Special
Operations Directorate, in Ate-Vitarte, a town within the Capital
District controlled by Lima municipality.
In the meantime, Fujimori's spokesman Carlos Raffo complained
publicly about the seven hours that the former leader had to spend
in completing border formalities after arriving in Peru.
Fujimori's daughter Keiko Fujimori told reporters that: "It
seems like an excess, an unnecessary abuse, to make him wait for so
long, so late at night."
However, Luis Bromley, head of the Legal Medicine Agency, said
Fujimori is in good shape, with only some signs of tiredness.
The authorities have sent an ambulance to Fujimori's prison on
Sunday morning and the Justice Ministry said in a statement that he
would receive constant medical attention.
The former ruler is also waiting for a Sunday visit from his
lawyer, Cesar Nakasaki.
Fujimori fled Peru in 2000 for Japan, using dual nationality to
prevent his extradition. He arrived in Chile unexpectedly in
November 2005, and Peru began an extradition case against him in
January 2006.
Peru's press have reported that the former president continues
to control incriminating material gathered by Vladimiro Montesinos,
Fujimori's main advisor and de facto boss of the National
Intelligence Service during his rule.
The alleged recordings of senior members in the military, state,
and business have given rise to an ironic saying that "Alberto has
arrived and many are on their way out."
Fujimori's younger brother Santiago Fujimori, who is a
legislator for Peru's Alliance for the Future (AF), told Peru's
media on Sunday that time and the judicial process will "dispel
doubts" about whether these videos are in his power.
"I hope his return can catalyze agreement among three
Fujimorista parties and that they can reach an agreement on
unifying," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2007)