<http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,451371,00.html> Peru's ex-leader accused of ordering death of rebels
Bodies of hostage-takers exhumed in siege inquiry
Alex Bellos, South America correspondent Wednesday March 14, 2001 The Guardian
The bodies of 14 Marxist rebels killed during a commando raid on the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima in 1997 are being exhumed to try to establish if they were executed in cold blood. Peruvian prosecutors are investigating whether the former president, Alberto Fujimori - who took great pride in personally directing the operation to rescue 72 hostages after a four-month siege - should be tried for human rights violations and murder.
Peru's former leader fled the country last year to live in Japan after a vote-buying scandal. This month a Peruvian judge ordered Mr Fujimori to appear in court on charges of dereliction of duty, although Japan and Peru have no extradition treaty.
On Monday five graves under unmarked crosses were unearthed on the shanty town outskirts of Lima, as Marxist sympathisers shouted "Spilt blood will never be forgotten!".
Forensic experts are now examining the rebels' bodies to see if there is evidence of gunshot wounds at close range, which would indicate that they were not shot in self-defence or in combat.
The postmortems are expected to take 10 to 15 days. "There are ...sufficient indications that on the day of the retaking of the ambassador's residence by members of the armed forces, three rebels were taken alive," said Ronald Gamarra, a state human rights prosecutor.
"Apparently, a commando proceeded to execute them when they were in custody."
The siege started during a VIP party. The hostages were held by the 14 members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement for 126 days.
All the hostage-takers died in the rescue, as well as one hostage and two soldiers.
In January relatives of the slain guerrillas filed a criminal complaint accusing Mr Fujimori, his fugitive ex-intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos, and former military chief Gen Nicolas Hermosa of human rights violations and extra-judicial murder.
The complaints were filed after Hidetaka Ogura, a Japanese embassy employee who was held hostage, told Peruvian radio last December that he had seen three rebels captured alive during the raid.
Four years ago, local media reported that when Peruvian special forces stormed the mansion, two young female rebels tried to give up, yelling "We surrender, we surrender!" before being cut down by commando gunfire.
"I want to know the truth. I don't believe anything that Fujimori has said," said Maria Fernandez, 54, the mother of one of the dead guerrillas.
Mr Fujimori denied the reports at the time but admitted in an interview that he gave an order to "neutralise" all the rebels.
He said his priority was to rescue the 72 hostages alive, and that while no one was killed for revenge, the soldiers did not wait to find out what each rebel's intentions were.
Japanese officials have shown no sign that they intend to force Mr Fujimori's return, but the Peruvian justice minister, Diego Garcia Sayan, said that if charges were lodged, the case would fall under the jurisdiction of international human rights law and Mr Fujimori could be prosecuted in Japan.
Newspaper reports in Peru have speculated that the Japanese authorities are under pressure to pursue the case because the residence was considered Japanese territory.