Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jul 2002
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2002 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Lucien O. Chauvin, Special to The Herald
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

MONTESINOS RECEIVES 9-YEAR SENTENCE

LIMA - Nearly one year to the day after his arrest following a 
continent-wide manhunt, former Peruvian strongman Vladimiro Montesinos was 
convicted of abuse of authority during his 10 years as security advisor to 
former President Alberto Fujimori.

A Peruvian court Monday sentenced Montesinos to nine years and four months 
in prison for illegally heading the National Intelligence Service under 
Fujimori, who governed Peru from 1990 to November 2000, when he resigned. 
Montesinos was also fined approximately $2.85 million.

During the sentencing, the court said the 57-year-old Montesinos, who faces 
even more serious charges in dozens of cases, admitted that he had run the 
National Intelligence Service, even though he had never been officially 
named its leader.

In that role, he was perhaps the most feared individual in the country -- 
operating largely from the shadows and rarely appearing in public -- as 
well as the most powerful after the president himself. On Monday, however, 
he stood motionless and silent during the hour-long sentencing, staring at 
Judge Saul Pena Farfan while a court reporter read the charges against him.

The sentence was read in a theater-turned-courtroom at the Callao Navy 
Base, where Montesinos has been held since his extradition to Peru on June 
25, 2001, following his arrest in Venezuela one day earlier.

This was the first sentence handed down against Montesinos in more than 60 
cases pending against him. It was also the fourth attempt by the judge to 
have the sentence read. On earlier dates, Montesinos switched lawyers and 
requested that the judge be removed from the case.

Montesinos is accused of masterminding a web of corruption that penetrated 
deep into all sectors of Peru's ruling class. Fujimori resigned as the 
scandal began to unfold, living in self-exile in Japan since November 2000. 
Montesinos did not make a statement after the sentencing, but his lawyer, 
Estela Valdivia Cano, said he would appeal the sentence.

STRATEGY

Valdivia added that she had no problems with the sentence, saying 
sarcastically that nine years seems a fair price to pay "for having 
defeated terrorism, achieving peace with Ecuador and unifying the armed 
forces and national police."

Luis Jochamowitz, who recently published a book on Montesinos, says 
Valdivia's comments are part of the Montesinos defense strategy.

"Montesinos needs to change his image. Everyone sees him as a gangster. By 
placing his actions within the political context of the 1990s, he is trying 
to politicize his defense and gain some public sympathy," says Jochamowitz.

Building up support will not be easy. During his 10 years with Fujimori, 
Montesinos was seen in public only a handful of times. From the onset of 
the administration, he was often portrayed in the press as sinister, a kind 
of Peruvian Rasputin.

Montesinos' distant past is no help. He was court-martialed by the military 
in 1976, accused of forging the president's signature to make a trip to the 
United States. He spent several years in a military prison, during which 
time he began studying law. He emerged in the mid-1980s as a defense lawyer 
for Peruvian drug traffickers.

His ties to drug traffickers resurfaced throughout his tenure in the 
Fujimori administration. In 1997, jailed drug kingpin Demetrio Chavez 
claimed he paid Montesinos $50,000 for every drug flight out of Peru.

ONLY THE BEGINNING

Drugs, arms trafficking and human rights violations are a big part of the 
on-going investigations, and prosecutors were quick to point out that 
Monday's sentencing is only the beginning of the process.

"There is still a long way to go with the case. People should not think 
that this sentence is the final verdict. This case involved only one of the 
minor charges against him," says Special Prosecutor Luis Vargas Valdivia.

Under Peruvian law, sentences are not cumulative, so Monday's ruling will 
negate any additional sentences of less than nine years. The same holds 
true if Montesinos receives a sentence above nine years in future cases.

NOTORIOUS VIDEO

Montesinos' fall from the height of Peruvian politics began Sept. 14, 2000, 
when a video he had secretly taped in his office at the National 
Intelligence Services was made public. On that video, Montesinos is seen 
giving a congressman $14,000 to switch political parties and join 
Fujimori's bloc. Two days later, Fujimori announced that he was firing 
Montesinos and that he was calling a new election.

Montesinos left for political asylum in Panama a week later, returned to 
Peru briefly in October and then disappeared until his arrest in Venezuela 
months later.

In the meantime, thousands of videos filmed by Montesinos have been made 
public, and he claims to have thousands more hidden away for future use. In 
one of the few photos of Montesinos taken before his arrest, he is seen 
reading a book while living in exile. A videotape is poking out from the book.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager