Peru's Fujimori back in jail after hospital stay

Fujimori is serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted in 2009 of human rights violations during his 1990 to 2000 presidency.

The 75-year-old, who has been treated several times for cancerous tongue lesions, was taken to hospital on Friday when doctors detected hypertensive heart illness, his daughter Keiko told reporters.

Keiko Fujimori, an influential member of Peru's legislature, said that her father's blood pressure rose when he was in court on Thursday facing trial on charges that he funnelled public money to tabloid newspapers that attacked opponents during his tenure.

Prosecutors want to give him eight more years in jail and a $1 million fine for allegedly diverting $43 million to tabloids that attacked the opposition and slammed his rivals during his 2000 re-election campaign.

Fujimori entered the court room looking haggard and accompanied by a doctor. At one point he took a break from the proceedings, apparently for health reasons.

However a video that aired late Sunday on Frecuencia Latina TV showed the former president seemingly healthy over the weekend as he energetically commanded hospital staff to make way for supporters, including his adult son Kenji.

Keiko Fujimori accused the government of President Ollanta Humala of recording the video "in a premeditated and malevolent way to humiliate" her father.

Critics dismiss the ex-president's ailments as part of a ruse aimed at generating sympathy and getting him out of prison.

Keiko Fujimori insists that her father's weak health is real, but also said he will be in court when the trial resumes on October 29.