Former Argentine President Carlos Menem, who currently is in exile here in this Chilean capital city, said Tuesday that he will only return to his countryif the judges who issued international warrants for his arrest arereplaced by more impartial officials.

Menem accused Judges Norberto Oyarbide and Jorge Urso of being part of the "political persecution" planned against him by incumbent Argentine President Nestor Kirchner's government.

"Of course, when those two judges are changed, I will be there.(But) if they come to Chile to question me, there is no inconvenience, because here there are guarantees that I do not have in Argentina," the former Argentine leader said.

He said he has enough confidence that the arrest warrants wouldbe disregarded by Chilean justice because "they were wrongly stated and there are no crimes" (on his part).

Both Urso and Oyarbide issued international warrants for Menem's arrest after he had repeatedly failed to appear in court to givetestimony on charges that he embezzled up to 60 million US dollarsof public funds during his 1989-1999 rule.

He is also accused of accepting commission from a Swiss accountreportedly containing 600,000 dollars and announcing the assets when he was sworn in.

Menem said both judges "received directives from the justice minister" and Kirchner's government "has a lot of authoritarianismand nothing democratic."

"There is no democracy because it has exerted a lot of authoritarian pressure on the press and that gives no guarantee tothose who have worked 10 years with all their strength," Menem said.

The 73-year-old Menem, who served as Argentine president from 1989 to 1999, is now living in neighboring Chile with his Chilean wife and a newly born son.

He refused to return to Argentina, saying he would get an unfair trial.

Source: Xinhua