Peru's Montesinos may not testify, says watchdog

LIMA, Peru, July 2 (Reuters) -- Peru's captured former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, on a hunger strike to demand a move from a grim naval prison, may refuse to testify on charges ranging from murder to embezzlement, the country's top legal watchdog said on Monday.

Montesinos, snared in Venezuela over a week ago following an eight-month manhunt that thrilled Latin America with tales of daring escapes by yacht and secret plastic surgery, could stymie Peru's largest corruption probe ever as he demands he be moved from a dank prison he designed for major criminals.

State ombudsman Wilfredo Pedraza, who visited Montesinos for two hours on Saturday, said the former right-hand man to disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori might refuse to give key details on a laundry list of criminal charges that could land him in prison for life.

"In general terms, he (Montesinos) was fine ... but he did tell me that this situation may help him keep silent during the investigation, and we'll see if he follows through with that," Pedraza told Reuters.

Judicial authorities said last week Montesinos was cooperating with their initial probes into allegations he showered many of Peru's public officials with bribes for a decade and squirreled away more than $250 million for himself.

But Montesinos is reportedly miffed with conditions in the prison, notorious for its cramped and dark one-person cells with holes in the floor for toilets. His neighbors include former guerrilla leaders he helped capture as part of Fujimori's crusade against rebel groups.

Authorities have said they are keeping Montesinos in the Lima prison for his own protection because many in Peru could want him dead since he might implicate them in a web of corruption that has touched some of the country's top politicians, businessmen and judicial officials.

They insist Montesinos' stay at the naval base will last only three to six months, but the man accustomed to glamorous beach houses, diamond watches and designer shirts reportedly wants an immediate transfer.

"His only reason (for the strike) is that he doesn't want to be in a military base," Pedraza said. "His request is that they get him out of there."

Pedraza said Montesinos was consuming only sugar water, although prison officials have suggested he might be spiriting food from a stash of soft drinks, candy and crackers that he brought with him to the base.

PERU MULLS NEW PRISON

The 56-year-old intelligence chief fled Peru in 2000 after a secretly taped video emerged showing him handing cash to an opposition politician. The ensuing scandal forced Fujimori to flee to Japan, after which he was fired by Congress as "morally unfit."

Peru is pushing for Japan to extradite Fujimori.

A string of more than 50 separate cases could land Montesinos in prison for life, although the glacial pace of Peruvian justice means he could wait at least 18 months for a court sentence if convicted.

Peru's prison chief, Gino Costa, said on Monday the country was mulling the construction of a new super-secure prison to house top criminals. The lack of a high-security civilian facility forces Peru's most dangerous prisoners to be housed at the naval base.

Costa also told local radio that prison officials were ready to intervene if Montesinos' health deteriorated as a result of the hunger strike.

"We have a hospital on the naval base and of course we will give him the medication needed to guarantee his life," Costa said.

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