UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said his country would take Japan to an international tribunal if it does not answer a request to extradite former Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori.
Fujimori, in exile in Japan where he has been granted Japanese citizenship, is wanted in Peru on charges he masterminded death-squad massacres and misused government funds.
Japanese law prohibits extradition of its nationals, and Peru has accused Tokyo of trying to delay his prosecution after it sent a 700-page request to produce the wanted former president.
"If there is no answer, we will have no other option but to go to an international tribunal," Toledo told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at the world body's New York headquarters.
"We have not had any specific conversations about this issue but Peru has presented already the judicial documents for extradition, and we don't have a clear answer," Toledo said.
"Four years have passed already since Mr Fujimori flew and hid himself under Japanese nationality," he said.
Tokyo said in August that it had asked Peru for more information about the request but did not say publicly what additional detail it was seeking.
In a speech earlier to the assembly, Toledo promised that Fujimori would get a fair trial but said Japan had to cooperate.
"The rule of law and the international legal order must guarantee justice and impede impunity. Denying access to justice consecrates impunity," he told the gathering.
Interpol, the Paris-based international police organization, has issued a worldwide warrant for Fujimori's arrest.
Fujimori was given citizenship because he is the son of Japanese immigrants to Peru.
He left the Peruvian presidency in November 2000 and resigned via fax from a hotel in Tokyo amid a corruption scandal and charges of human rights violations.