Peru's Fujimori extends hospital stay due to new health problems

Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori said on Wednesday that he was extending his more than weeklong stay in a hospital outside his prison cell because of new health problems.

Fujimori said on Twitter that he could not be discharged as expected on Tuesday because of a "severe" inflammation of his veins that put him at risk of blood clotting and infection. He was hospitalized in late January to undergo treatment for a hernia in his spine.

Fujimori, who governed Peru with a heavy hand for a decade before fleeing the Andean country during a massive graft scandal in 2000, has been serving a 25-year prison sentence for corruption and human rights abuses.

Now 78, Fujimori has been hospitalized several times in recent years for various health problems.

Peru could jail a second former president if a judge this week decides that Alejandro Toledo, Fujimori's successor, must spend 18 months in "preventive prison" while prosecutors prepare criminal charges against him for alleged corruption.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)