Peru's justice questioned in forced sterilisation case

Some Indigenous Peruvian women who say they were forcibly sterilized under a 1990s government program on Wednesday denounced obstructions to a trial underway due to the sudden change of judge presiding over proceedings.

The judicial process led by Judge Rafael Martínez began in March following years of demands by human rights activists as well as numerous obstacles, including prosecutors who shelved investigations of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori in the past.

Fujimori has been implicated in the deaths of five women and the injuries of another 1,301 women who were allegedly sterilized against their will.

Some other former members of Fujimori's government are also accused in the sterilization case, including the congressman and current president of the legislative oversight commission Alejandro Aguinaga.

Victims and human rights activists say the case is progressing too slowly, with Martínez still not issuing a final ruling on whether to try Fujimori and the others.

Martínez announced that his reading will continue on Saturday and may be postponed for up to "four dates".

Complicating matters further, Martínez is expected to leave the case by order of his superiors whilst being investigated for his alleged involvement in a judicial network that favours drug traffickers from international organizations in exchange for money.

As president, Fujimori announced at a congress in China in 1995 that his government would undertake a program to help poor Peruvian women decide the number of children they wanted to have.

Later, there were growing complaints from women in poor communities in the Andes who said they had been sterilized without their knowledge.

Officials of Fujimori's government claimed any excesses were the fault of overzealous local medical authorities.

Fujimori had boasted that the sterilization program dropped Peru's birth rate from 3.7 children per woman in 1990 to 2.7 children a decade later.