Alberto Fujimori, Government confirms Japanese nationality
The Japanese government has ruled that the exiled former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori holds Japanese nationality and cannot be extradited back to Peru. Mr Fujimori has been in Tokyo since shortly before his dismissal last month as pressure grew on him over a number of corruption scandals.
The government confirmed that Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants who also bears the Japanese name Kenya, had been entered into the family's ancestral register in his parents' home town of Kumamoto, southwestern Japan. Fujimori's father notified the Japanese Consulate in Peru of his son's birth and submitted an application to retain the baby's Japanese citizenship, Kyodo News reported, quoting government sources.
Fujimori had earlier said he did not know for certain if his birth had been registered at the consulate in Peru, but assumed it had as this was common practice among immigrants to Peru at the time. If Fujimori did not actively renounce his Japanese citizenship, under Japanese law he would be deemed to be Japanese even if he held dual nationality, since Tokyo does not permit its nationals to hold two countries' passports.
