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Associated PressPeru Court Convicts 4 for 1992 Massacre
By MONTE HAYES – 7 hours ago
LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian court on Tuesday convicted a former general and three members of a military death squad of kidnapping and murder in a ruling that prosecutors say could set a precedent in the trial of former President Alberto Fujimori.
The four were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 35 years in connection with a 1992 massacre, but the three-judge panel absolved another member of the squad and three officers accused of providing support for it. The verdict made no reference to a ninth man charged.
The judges found the three former soldiers and an ex-general guilty of participating in the 1992 kidnapping and murder of nine students and a professor from La Cantuta University who were suspected of being rebel collaborators.
The killings became a landmark human rights case in Peru, where security forces fought a bloody war against Shining Path Rebels in the 1980s and early 1990s. The insurgency began to fade after Abimael Guzman and other key rebel commanders were captured in 1992.
In a separate courtroom, Fujimori is being tried for allegedly authorizing the death squad to fight the guerrillas.
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