Shining Path founder faces possible life sentence on terrorism charges

Описание: (13 Oct 2006)
FILE: Lima, Peru - 5 November 2004
1. Various of defendant Abimael Guzman and his supporters chanting revolutionary slogans during court proceedings
2. Court officials sat at table
3. Guzman talking and smiling in court
4. Bailiffs escorting Guzman out of court
5. Guzman hugging supporters
FILE: Unknown date
6. Close-up of newspaper headline with photo of Guzman
FILE: Unknown location - 1992
7. Zoom out of Guzman imprisoned at Naval base

Peru turns the page on a bloody chapter of its history on Friday with an expected trial verdict for imprisoned Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman, whose messianic communist vision inspired a 12-year rebellion in which nearly 70-thousand people died.
The 71-year-old former philosophy professor faces a possible life sentence on terrorism charges, along with nine former top commanders, including Guzman's long-time lover and second-in-command Elena Iparraguirre.
Two other defendants face possible 25-year terms.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Guzman was known to his followers as President Gonzalo, inspiring a cult-like obedience among a guerrilla insurgency that grew to as many as 10-thousand armed fighters before his capture in a Lima safe house in September 1992.
Guzman's attorney, Manuel Fajardo, has argued that there are deaths in every war and that Guzman should be granted amnesty or released outright for violations against his right to due process, not convicted of aggravated terrorism, which is punishable by 25 years to life behind bars.
He has argued that Guzman should be tried on a lesser charge of rebellion.
Last year, three weeks into his trial in the maximum-security naval base where he has been held since April 1993, Guzman told the court he was not a revolutionary combatant and totally reject being labelled a "terrorist".
A government-appointed truth commission in 2003 blamed the Shining Path for 54 per cent of nearly 70-thousand estimated deaths and disappearances caused by rebel violence and a brutal state backlash between 1980 and 2000.
The trial has covered a series of assassinations, bombings and massacres, including the 1983 killing of 69 peasants in the Andean village of Lucanamarca, one of the worst atrocities blamed on the Shining Path.
The guerrillas shot and hacked their victims to death - including nearly two dozen children - in retaliation for the killings of several rebels by villagers.
Fajardo said he and his client "know the public wants a circus" in the courtroom on Friday and that Guzman "is tranquil" in the face of an apparently assured guilty verdict.
He confirmed Guzman's intention to appeal if necessary.
A secret military tribunal sentenced Guzman to life in prison in 1992, but Peru's top court ruled the trial unconstitutional three years ago.
A civilian re-trial in late 2004 ended in chaos after Guzman and his supporters chanted communist slogans.
With fists raised, Guzman and Iparraguirre led four co-defendants in chants of "Long live Peru's Communist Party! Glory to the party of Leninism, Maoism!" while television cameras rolled.
The trial collapsed days later when two of the three presiding judges stepped down under pressure, citing conflicts of interest.
The case started anew in September 2005.
Led by Pablo Talavera, president of Peru's anti-terrorism court, the new tribunal has banned cameras and tape recorders from the proceedings to deny Guzman another opportunity to create political theatre.
The Shining Path began to fade after Guzman's capture, and in the last five years Peru has enjoyed relative political stability and sustained economic growth.

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