KARUNA SHINSHO, CNN ANCHOR: The Japanese Foreign Ministry says Tokyo will not surrender Peru's former president, despite criminal charges against him. By filing the charges, Peru has started a process that could lead to an arrest warrant being issued for Alberto Fujimori. Lucien Chavine (ph) reports.</s>CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Peru's attorney general Wednesday filed homicide charges against former President Alberto Fujimori. Fujimori is accused of involvement in two massacres committed by military-led death squads in the early 1990s. The attorney general was acting on last week's unanimous decision by Congress to lift Fujimori's immunity as a former president. Wednesday's decision is the latest step in the legal battle to extradite Fujimori from Japan, where he has been living since resigning, last November. Japanese authorities have thus far refused to cooperate. Tokyo does not allow for its citizens to be extradited. A Peruvian Supreme Court justice will now be appointed to the case. A warrant could be issued for Fujimori's arrest within 10 days if he refuses to return to Peru and testify. In addition to homicide, the charges against Fujimori include the torture of a former intelligence service agent in 1997. By adding torture to the charges, the attorney general could be anticipating a possible appeal to international anti-torture treaties signed by Peru and Japan. Peruvian authorities have said they will turn to international bodies for assistance if Japan refuses the extradition requests. Fujimori is the target of 11 other investigations, including drug trafficking. Lucien Chavine (ph), for CNN, Lima, Peru.
Japan Refuses to Hand Over Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, Despite Criminal Charges