LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, now under arrest in Chile, married his Japanese hotel magnate girlfriend by filing legal documents in Japan, she confirmed.

Satomi Kataoka told reporters that she had filed a marriage registration in Tokyo before boarding a plane to Peru on Wednesday to support pro-Fujimori candidates ahead of Sunday's national election -- among them her new stepdaughter, Keiko Fujimori, who is running for Congress.

Kataoka later announced the union to a crowd of about 5,000 people at a political rally in Lima's impoverished San Juan de Lurigancho district.

She spoke Japanese while her new brother-in-law, Santiago Fujimori, a vice presidential candidate, translated her words into Spanish, Fujimori's spokesman Carlos Raffo told The Associated Press.

Couples can be wed under Japanese law by submitting a written report of the marriage to a local municipal office. It can be submitted by a designated representative, and neither partner needs to be present. Kataoka resides in the Tokyo area.

"Today is the happiest day of my life," Fujimori said in a statement, according to Japan's Kyodo News agency.

Kataoka was in the Peruvian capital last month when she announced the couple's intentions to marry sometime before Peru's elections.

"I was deeply impressed when I visited Peru and looked at his supporters," Kataoka said Thursday, according to Kyodo. "I'm determined to stake my life protecting him."

Fujimori, who is of Japanese ancestry, fled to Japan in November 2000 as his decade-old authoritarian government crumbled amid corruption scandals.

In November, he flew to Chile as part of a plan to launch a political comeback but was detained on an international arrest warrant at the request of Peru, which is seeking his extradition to face criminal charges.

Fujimori faces charges in Peru including sanctioning a death squad accused of murdering 25 people, illegal phone tapping, bribing lawmakers and transferring $15 million to his spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos.

The former president has denied any wrongdoing.

In February, Chile's Supreme Court rejected Fujimori's appeal to be released from prison or placed under house arrest while fighting Peru's extradition request.

Presidential candidate Martha Chavez, a legislator and stalwart Fujimori supporter, is expected to win about 4 percent of the vote Sunday.

But pollsters predict Keiko Fujimori, a hugely popular figure in Peru, likely will garner the highest vote of any congressional candidate.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.