Chile's Supreme Court denied bail to former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on Tuesday as Peru worked to extradite him to face human rights and corruption charges.
Fujimori was arrested on Monday after arriving in Santiago on a surprise visit from Japan. He planned to use Chile as a base to relaunch his political career and return to Peru to run for president next year.
Peru has accused Fujimori, who was living as a fugitive in Japan for five years, of corruption and human rights abuses during his 1990-2000 rule.
Court spokesman Miguel Gonzalez told reporters that Supreme Court Judge Orlando Alvarez rejected a petition filed on Monday by Fujimori's lawyers to have him released on bail pending extradition hearings.
Fujimori, 67, is being held in a school building that belongs to Chile's prison authority. Chile's minimum security prison burned down earlier this year.
In his ruling Alvarez cited Chile's extradition treaty with Peru which gives Peru two months to file a formal request for extradition, Gonzalez said.
Peru's attorney general Antonio Maldonado told National Television that lawyers would take less than two months to get documents together, have them approved by Peru's courts and government, and file the request.
"I understand (it will take) no more than two or three weeks," he said. "Peru's justice system expects to have the fugitive Fujimori before the courts as soon as possible."
After Peru requests extradition, there would be a court hearing in Chile where Peru would present charges and evidence and Fujimori could defend himself. If the court rules for extradition Fujimori would have an opportunity to appeal. Fujimori is reviled by many Peruvians, but 15 percent of the population support his presidential candidacy.
He was elected in 1990 when the Shining Path Maoist guerrilla group was wreaking havoc in Peru. He defeated the rebels and also tamed a hyperinflationary economy, but angered even his supporters by trying to seize excessive power.
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