Alberto Fujimori, Radovan Karadzic, Augusto Pinochet, Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush and Tony Blair all share a common, though dubious, distinction. All these heads or former heads of state have been charged with crimes against humanity.
That democratically elected leaders can easily be lumped together with murderous dictators illustrates the problem that has plagued human-rights promoters of universal criminal prosecution: where to draw the line between serious violations and politically motivated cases. Cases involving the former category are necessary to bring the perpetrators to justice and to begin healing the damage inflicted on a nation, while cases involving the latter are usually brought for political gain and embarrassment.
The accusations facing ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori suffer from this problem. Fujimori stands accused of a number of serious universal crimes. Yet he is doing his utmost to argue that the charges against him are politically motivated and thus of little merit.