EFFORTS MADE TO INTERVIEW ALBERTO FUJIMORI IN TOKYO

1 On September 9 and 10, 2002 the president of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Dr. Salomón Lerner Febres, visited the city of Tokyo with the intention of interviewing Alberto Fujimori Fujimori about political violence in Peru during his presidency. Dr. Salomón Lerner Febres took on this task at the request of the members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The formalities for this interview were handled by the Peruvian Chancellery.
2. The planned interview with Fujimori Fujimori was to be part of a program of conversations with ex presidents of Peru, which in turn forms part of the investigation of the factors which led to political violence and the events which occurred during that process. As is public knowledge, the Truth Commission has already interviewed ex presidents Francisco Morales Bermúdez Cerruti and Alan García Pérez, as well as Fernando Belaúnde Terry, who on his sick bed was gentlemanly enough to receive the Commission to talk about issues of national interest for the democratic future of the country. None of them detected any sign of political animosity in those interviews.
3. The Commission has ample authority to conduct investigations of importance to the country and a budget which it uses with responsibility unquestioned by all sectors of Peruvian society. That not withstanding, it is noteworthy that Mr. Fujimori Fujimori has insinuated that the expense of the work in Tokyo was excessive. The Tokyo trip was prolonged by a trip to South Korea as the result of a trip made by Dr. Lerner Febres as rector of the Catholic University of Peru (la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) in response to an academic invitation. The Seoul to Tokyo leg of the trip, as well as the costs associated with his stay in the capital of Japan, didn’t generate expenses for the commission either.
4. Mr. Fujimori Fujimori, who is evading Peruvian justice invoking his Japanese citizenship kept secret from the Peruvian public during the ten years he was President, refused to talk to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which, as is public knowledge, has no jurisdiction or coercive methods whatsoever, apart from its moral legitimacy and its commitment to expose the truth. Instead of agreeing to the interview requested, Mr. Fujimori Fujimori chose not to respond formally, but informally and disrespectfully, with arguments that twisted the truth and slanderous imputations that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission rejects emphatically.
5. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission deplores the fact that the person who ran the country for ten years and during whose government there were serious human rights violations, refuses to collaborate with an investigation aimed at assisting the victims of those violations, paving the way for justice and laying the foundation for a reconciliation process based on knowledge of the truth and reparation for the harm done. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission wishes to inform the country that in spite of Mr. Fujimori Fujimori’s evasion, its willingness to investigate the violent acts which occurred in the decade from 1990 to 2000 remains intact, the same as for the investigation of events which occurred in the previous ten years, as our legal authority allows.
6. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission regrets not having been able to pose the questions related to our investigation to Mr. Fujimori Fujimori in a private meeting, as was done with ex presidents Bermúdez Cerruti, Belaúnde Terry and García Pérez. Having been unable to conduct the interview requested, the Commission deems it appropriate to let the country know the questions which Mr. Fujimori Fujimori refused to answer:

1. How did you perceive and analyze the problem of political violence when you were a Presidential candidate?

2. What was your peace proposal when you initiated your first term?

3. Did you have any knowledge of the following cases: (a) the disappearance of the university student Ernesto Casillo Páez, (b) the Barrios Altos killings, (c) the abduction and murder of the La Cantuta University students?

4. In your July 28 speeches of 1990 and 1991 you announced the naming of a Presidential High Commission on Human Rights, but it was never established. Why did you decide not to fulfill that commitment?

5. Between 1990 and 1992 there were more than 800 cases of unresolved abductions. Did you take any measures to impede those crimes?

6. Did you know General Luis Pérez Documet personally? Are you aware that under his command the cases of unresolved abductions increased, especially students at Universidad Nacional del Centro?

7. What reasons related to political violence did you have for suspending the Constitution on April 5, 1992?

8. Who participated in the elaboration of the anti terrorist legislation issued between May and September, 1992? What were the specific objectives of that legislation?

9. Your government created an Ad Hoc Commission for pardons to remedy the sentencing of numerous innocent people for terrorism. Why wasn’t the legislation which gave rise to that situation modified?

10. What instructions did you give to the armed forces for actions taken in the areas declared to be in emergency?

11. What was the role of Vladimiro Montesinos Torres in the design and execution of your government’s anti subversive policy? What specific authority did you give him? To whom did he answer in that regard?

12. Was there corruption in the armed forces in the period following April, 1992 Do you think that affected the fight against subversion?

13. Were you aware of the existence of a death squad known as “Grupo Colina” (Colina Group) ? Did you know personally Major Santiago Martín Rivas or Captain Carlos Pichilingüe?

14. What reasons did your government have for approving an amnesty law for those guilty of human rights violations? Does that law reflect a commitment to protect the “Grupo Colina” or high commanders of the armed forces?

15. What reasons did your government have for withdrawing Peru from the jurisdiction of the Inter American Court for Human Rights? Do you still sustain that Peru should not to submit to the authority of this court?

16. Were you aware of the alleged tortures inflicted on ex Intelligence agent Leonor La Rosa or the murder of Mariella Barreto Riofano?

17. What initiatives did your government adopt to solve the problem of the forced disappearances of citizens and to bring those responsible to justice? If you took none, do you support those activities as methods of fighting subversion?

18. What contact did you or officials of your government have with the subversive organizations Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and MRTA (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement)? What was the purpose? What were the implications of the peace plan you announced in the United Nations General Assembly?

19. What was your government’s criteria for imprisoning those subversive leaders at the Callao Naval Base? Did your government promote or authorize meetings between leaders of the subversive organizations? What was the purpose?

Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación
Oficina de Comunicaciones e Impacto Publico