MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Peruvian strongman pleads guilty in 1992 massacre case

Montesinos' legal team hopes the new sentence fits within the time already served by their client

Vladimiro Montesinos, a former aide to disgraced Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), Monday agreed to plead guilty in the 1992 homicide, murder and forced disappearance Pativilca massacre, it was reported in Lima.

Montesinos' decision seeks that the Fourth National High Criminal Court handling the trial against him, Fujimori and 21 other people for the murder of six peasants in the town of Pativilca north of Lima by the undercover military group Colina can reach a sentence by Jan. 31 when it is scheduled to be read out, it was explained.

Prosecutor Miluska Cano requested a 25-year prison sentence, while Montesinos' defense team claims it should fit the time already served by their client, who has been in jail for the past 22 years.

The trial against Fujimori and members of the Colina group is expected to go on regardless of Wednesday's sentence. The Public Prosecutor's Office is reviewing a petition to impose house arrest on the former head of state.

Chile's Supreme Court extended in June 2017 the terms of Fujimori's extradition so that he could be tried in this case. Last month, the 85-year-old Fujimori left Lima's Barbadillo prison where he was serving a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity after Peru's Constitutional Court (TC) reinstated a pardon granted to him in 2017 by then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.