Peru Ex-Spy Chief Convicted of Gunrunning for FARC

[bemildred]

LIMA, Peru, Sept. 22--A Peruvian court sentenced widely despised former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos on Thursday to 20 years in prison for the illegal sale of arms to a Colombian leftist rebel group in the late 1990s.

The sentence, Montesinos’ longest yet, is concurrent with a 15-year jail term he is serving for bribing the media during President Alberto Fujimori’s 1990-2000 government, which ended amid corruption scandals and charges of human rights abuses.

The trial of Montesinos and 35 others lasted nearly three years as investigators sought to document the sale of 10,000 assault weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, rebels involved in Colombia’s four-decade-old civil conflict.

Montesinos was convicted on charges of organized crime, arms trafficking and the violation of a foreign country’s sovereignty, according to state prosecutor Juan Portocarrero.

Iran Daily

[acmavm]

1. This guy was a horrid man, a vicious horrid henchman for

a guy who looked (at first) to be a fantastic statesman and a guy who was going to get the country back on track.

And they turn out to be thugs.

Sound familiar? (Except for a lot of people in this country NEVER thought blivet was going to be anything but the lying ass failure that he's always been. They're registered here at DU.)

[Judi Lynn]

2. Correction: Peru-Montesinos-Trial story

Sept. 22, 2006, 2:41PM
Correction: Peru-Montesinos-Trial story


© 2006 The Associated Press

CALLAO, Peru — In a story about the trial of Peru's former spymaster, The Associated Press reported erroneously that a fine levied against Vladimiro Montesinos and several co-defendants would be split between the governments of Peru and Colombia. Instead, the court rejected the prosecutors' recommendation to share the $3.1 million fine, ruling that the evidence did not prove a crime against Colombia's sovereignty, according to Peruvian State Attorney Juan Carlos Portocarrero.
(snip/)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4207557.html



Montesinos