Human Rights, Insurgency, Law & Justice

Peru Supreme Court ratifies guilty verdict against former chief of National Intelligence Service for La Cantuta massacre

Peru’s Supreme Court ratified a guilty verdict against the former chief of Peru’s National Intelligence Service for the notorious 1992 kidnapping and murders of one professor and nine students, but reduced the sentence from 35 to 25 years of prison.

Retired army Gen. Julio Salazar Monroe was first convicted in April 2008. He was found guilty for his part in directing the Colina group’s covert operations.

The death squad operated out of the Army Intelligence Service Headquarters as part of a “low intensity” war sanctioned by now jailed former President Alberto Fujimori against Shining Path guerrillas and suspected sympathizers of their Maoist-inspired insurgency.

On July 18, 1992, the professor and students were kidnapped from La Cantuta University by the Colina group paramilitary death squad. Their burned remains were later discovered in shallow graves on the outskirts of the capital.

The higher Court also confirmed a 20-year sentence for ex-Colina group member Wilmer Yarleque and 15-year prison terms for Fernando Lecca Sequen, José Alarcón Gonzales and Orlando Vera Navarrete.

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