Lima, Dec 10 (EFE).- Peru's special anti-corruption prosecutor Joel Segura has demanded that former president Alberto Fujimori be fined $84.1 million for paying newspapers to attack his political opponents when he was seeking re-election to his second term.
Segura issued the demand on Tuesday at an appearance at Superior Court of Justice which is trying Fujimori on charges of embezzlement and damaging the state.
According to the prosecutor, Fujimori used government funds to pay the sensationalist press to run stories criticizing his opponents and praising his management of the government when he was running for re-election in 2000.
Segura reiterated that Fujimori used his close advisor, Vladimiro Montesinos, to set up a government entity which acted as a criminal organization to syphon off state funds for private use.
Last month, the prosecutor ratified his request that Fujimori be jailed for eight years, be disqualified from public office for three years and pay more than $1 million in civil damages.
The next hearing in the case is to take place Dec. 17 with final arguments from Fujimori's defense team, after which the court will announce when it will issue a ruling.
