Vladimiro Montesinos, the jailed former intelligence chief of Peru’s disgraced ex-president Alberto Fujimori, has been handed a 17-year prison sentence for the 1990s kidnapping of a journalist.
Montesinos has been imprisoned since 2001 on a 25-year jail term for human rights violations, and under Peruvian law is considered to have already served the additional, shorter sentence handed down late Thursday.
Gustavo Gorriti, a harsh critic of Fujimori’s autocratic regime, was kidnapped from his home by soldiers late on April 5, 1992 — the night Fujimori, with support from the armed forces, announced he was dissolving parliament and suspending Peru’s constitution.
The journalist, who worked for Spanish newspaper El Pais, was kept at a military prison until his release several days later following diplomatic pressure from Spain.
Montesinos was a hardline security chief to Fujimori during his decade-long presidency, from 1990 to 2000.
Like Fujimori he fled the country following the disgraced leader’s downfall, and like him he was eventually extradited back to his homeland to face trial.
The 83-year-old Fujimori is currently serving a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity and corruption, after being found guilty of ordering two massacres by death squads in 1991 and 1992.
