Chile's extradition laws are in a state of flux, making it hard to predict with certainty the resolution of any case against Peru's ex-President Alberto Fujimori, now in Chilean custody.

BY JACK CHANG
Knight Ridder News Service

SANTIAGO - The chartered plane that brought former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori to Chile last Sunday dropped him into a legal morass that's made it all but impossible to predict whether he'll ever be extradited to Peru.

The ex-president, wanted in Peru on more than 20 counts of corruption and human rights violations, left his Japanese exile just as Chile was launching judicial reforms aimed at streamlining judicial proceedings. Those reforms were put in place for all cases begun after June 16, regardless of when the crimes were committed.

But next week, Chilean extradition law could change again. President Ricardo Lagos is expected to sign legislation that once again makes extradition procedures covered not by when the process began but by when the crime allegedly occurred.

Fujimori is being detained under the streamlined reforms, but his alleged crimes took place before June 16, so it's unclear which set of rules will govern his case.

''We don't know if the judge will change [back] to the old system or not,'' said Marko Magdic, a lawyer with Chile's Specialized Unit for International Cooperation and Extradition.

Such judicial matters will have serious consequences for the former president, who's one of South America's most-wanted fugitives yet has declared himself a candidate in Peru's April 9 presidential elections. Chilean officials arrested him Monday after the Peruvian government requested his detention.

Under Chile's old judicial system, extradition hearings could take up to two years, because judges were required to do the grueling work of investigating facts. If those rules are applied, Fujimori would miss his date with voters. The new system simplifies the process by requiring judges in extradition cases only to review evidence presented by attorneys, which would cut the time to an estimated four to six months. That could free Fujimori or send him back to Peru before the elections.

1932 TREATY

Fujimori was detained under a 1932 extradition treaty signed by Peru and Chile. Under it, a person can be extradited only if the charges are punishable in both countries by more than a year in prison.

The most serious counts filed against Fujimori in Peru link the 67-year-old ex-leader to the cases of 25 people slain by government death squads in the early 1990s. Officials held responsible for the killings said they suspected that the victims were supporters of the Shining Path rebel group.

DEATH SQUADS

Fujimori is accused of knowing about the death squads and permitting their activity but not ordering the killings, according to Francisco Soberón, the head of the Peruvian group the National Coordinator of Human Rights.

Magdic said such ''chain of command'' responsibility was also a crime in Chile and had been used by judges to pursue former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for offenses committed by his underlings.

Fujimori also is accused of paying his associates millions of dollars in illegal funds, Soberón said.

But that may not be enough to satisfy a Chilean judge. Chile's anti-corruption laws demand a higher level of proof than Peru's, a fact that has thwarted previous attempts to extradite wanted figures from Chile to Peru, Riego said.

Over the past four decades, Chile has blocked several extradition requests, which may have led Fujimori to try his luck in Santiago, several human rights advocates said.

Most recently, Chilean courts refused to extradite two men, Eduardo Calmell del Solar and Daniel Borobio, whom Peruvian officials accused of illicit association and influence peddling during Fujimori's rule. Chilean courts ruled that the two men hadn't committed extraditable offenses under Chilean law because they weren't public officials at the time.

Yet Chile's judicial reforms may mean that history is no longer a reliable indicator of what will happen to Fujimori, said Alberto Espinoza, a Santiago attorney working with Peruvian human rights groups.

''The rules have changed, but the laws in question haven't, so things are uncertain,'' he said.