[JURIST] Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda asked Peruvian President Alan Garcia during talks in Tokyo Monday to ensure that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] is treated fairly during his ongoing trial on murder and kidnapping charges [JURIST report], which stem from the military killings of 25 people in 1991 and 1992. In response, Garcia said he would see that Fujimori, who is also a Japanese citizen, receives an "objective and fair trial."

In December, Fujimori apologized [JURIST report] during the trial for his role in two massacres which occurred during his administration in the early 1990s. The victims included a professor and nine students killed during the so-called La Cantuta massacre [backgrounder] at Lima's La Cantuta University, along with 15 people killed in Lima's Barrios Altos neighborhood. Fujimori claimed that he did not authorize and did not have any knowledge of the killings, which were likely part of a war on Shining Path rebels [FAS backgrounder] in the country. AP has more.