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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Peru Shining Path head gets life | Peru Shining Path head gets life |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| The founder of Peru's Shining Path Maoist guerrillas has been found guilty of terrorism at a retrial and been sentenced to life imprisonment. | The founder of Peru's Shining Path Maoist guerrillas has been found guilty of terrorism at a retrial and been sentenced to life imprisonment. |
| Former philosophy professor Abimael Guzman led a 12-year rebellion in which around 70,000 people died. | |
| Abimael Guzman was tried after his capture in 1992 by a secret military court, but the verdict and life sentence were thrown out in 2003. | Abimael Guzman was tried after his capture in 1992 by a secret military court, but the verdict and life sentence were thrown out in 2003. |
| Guzman's partner Elena Iparraguirre was also found guilty and given life. | |
| The verdicts took five hours to read, and Guzman stood motionless with his arms folded as the court gave its judgement. | The verdicts took five hours to read, and Guzman stood motionless with his arms folded as the court gave its judgement. |
| The Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla group, waged a violent campaign to overthrow the Peruvian state. | The Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla group, waged a violent campaign to overthrow the Peruvian state. |
| In 2003, a truth and reconciliation commission blamed more than 31,000 killings on the Shining Path. | In 2003, a truth and reconciliation commission blamed more than 31,000 killings on the Shining Path. |
| Tens of thousands more deaths were blamed on the state backlash by the government of former president Alberto Fujimori. | |
| Fujimori is currently in exile in Chile facing extradition to Peru, where prosecutors have been pursuing him on charges relating to corruption in office and human rights violation during the Shining Path crackdown. | |
| Guzman's lawyer had argued his client should be granted an amnesty because of violations against his right to due process. | Guzman's lawyer had argued his client should be granted an amnesty because of violations against his right to due process. |
| Peru's constitutional court ruled that the secret military court which originally heard the case did not give him a fair trial. | Peru's constitutional court ruled that the secret military court which originally heard the case did not give him a fair trial. |
| Horrific massacre | Horrific massacre |
| The year-long trial was held at the high-security naval base where Guzman has been held since 1993. | The year-long trial was held at the high-security naval base where Guzman has been held since 1993. |
| Survivors from a Shining Path massacre in the Andean village of Lucanamarca, where 69 peasants were shot and hacked to death as a reprisal, gathered outside the base to demand maximum sentences for the defendants. | Survivors from a Shining Path massacre in the Andean village of Lucanamarca, where 69 peasants were shot and hacked to death as a reprisal, gathered outside the base to demand maximum sentences for the defendants. |
| "They killed them with machetes, stones, axes - and for those who did not die in agony in this way, they even put them into a vat of boiling water," Ignacio Tacas, a 35-year-old farmer from the village, told the Associated Press news agency. | "They killed them with machetes, stones, axes - and for those who did not die in agony in this way, they even put them into a vat of boiling water," Ignacio Tacas, a 35-year-old farmer from the village, told the Associated Press news agency. |
| The Shining Path founder said the massacre had been a response to "reactionary military action". | The Shining Path founder said the massacre had been a response to "reactionary military action". |
| Reuters reported that Shining Path survivors chanted "murderer" as they waited for his sentence to be read out. | |
| At the start of this hearing, Guzman had described himself as a "revolutionary combatant" and not a terrorist. | |
| His lawyer Manuel Fajardo told Associated Press that the court ruling had been based not "strictly on the law, but rather on politics", and said that the deaths had been an inevitable result of the war between the Shining Path and the Peruvian government. | |
| "History will provide their verdict in the end," he said. | |
| Guzman's first retrial in 2004 ended in chaos after he shouted communist slogans in his defence in front of live television cameras. | |
| To avoid a repeat performance, tape recorders and cameras were banned from the courtroom for this trial. | To avoid a repeat performance, tape recorders and cameras were banned from the courtroom for this trial. |
| However, television stations were allowed to use footage from the court's closed-circuit television cameras to broadcast Guzman's sentence live on Friday. | |
| A few hundred Shining Path rebels are still operative in the country's south and south-east, but a BBC correspondent in Lima says they now pose little threat. | A few hundred Shining Path rebels are still operative in the country's south and south-east, but a BBC correspondent in Lima says they now pose little threat. |