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Verdict due in Shining Path trial Verdict due in Shining Path trial
(about 8 hours later)
A verdict is expected in the retrial of the founder of Peru's bloody guerrilla movement, the Shining Path.A verdict is expected in the retrial of the founder of Peru's bloody guerrilla movement, the Shining Path.
Former philosophy professor Abimael Guzman faces a possible life sentence for his role in a 12-year rebellion in which around 70,000 people died. Former philosophy professor Abimael Guzman faces a life sentence for his role in 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 and sentenced to life in prison.Abimael Guzman was tried after his capture in 1992 by a secret military court and sentenced to life in prison.
That verdict was ruled unconstitutional in 2003. A 2004 retrial collapsed when two judges stood down. That verdict was thrown out in 2003 but correspondents say Mr Guzman is almost certain to be convicted.
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.
The group is blamed for the majority of about 70,000 deaths since the insurgency broke out in the 1980s. In 2003, a truth and reconciliation commission blamed more than 31,000 killings on the Shining Path.
A number of other leaders of the guerrilla movement, including Mr Guzman's lover and fellow commander, Elena Iparraguirre, are also on trial. Mr Guzman's lawyer says his client should be granted an amnesty because of violations against his right to due process.
Mr Guzman's lawyer, Manuel Fajardo, told the Associated Press news agency that they would appeal against a guilty verdict, and if necessary take the case to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights. A number of other leaders of the guerrilla movement, including Mr Guzman's partner and fellow commander, Elena Iparraguirre, are also on trial.
Horrific massacre
Mr Guzman is on trial at a high-security naval base where he 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 fore 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.
The Shining Path founder said the massacre had been a response to "reactionary military action".
At the start of his trial last year, Mr Guzman described himself as a "revolutionary combatant" and not a terrorist.
Ismael Vera, director of Amnesty International in Peru, said the human rights group hoped for "the severest sentence - a life sentence".