Piece Description

Alberto Fujimori, the former president of Peru has now been sentenced to six years in prison for sending an aide to steal documents from his spy chief, a ruling that could harm his defence in a separate murder trial. Supreme Court judge Pedro Urbina found Mr Fujimori, 69, guilty of ordering the aide to break into a house where intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos had hidden videos and tapes that documented corruption in Mr Fujimori?s government. Mr Fujimori plans to appeal the ruling, the first against him since he was extradited to Peru from Chile in September after seven years in exile. After the sentencing, Mr Fujimori?s daughter Keiko, a congresswoman and potential presidential candidate for the 2011 elections, told the press: ?It used to be political persecution; now we are facing a judicial persecution.? Mr Fujimori, who faces up to 30 years in jail if convicted, faces four trials. He is accused of ordering two massacres - known as ?Barrios Altos? and ?La Cantuta? - in which 25 people were killed; and two kidnappings. The charges back to a time when Peru was battling the leftist Shining Path insurgents. Mr Fujimori?s 10-year rule collapsed in 2000 amid a corruption scandal. He resigned by fax while visiting Japan. In addition, he is accused also of allegedly wiretapping political opponents and paying bribes to congressmen and broadcasters, and for allegedly paying $15m in apparent hush money to Montesinos. He has vigorously protested his innocence in court. Since Mr Fujimori?s extradition, the streets of Peru?s capital, Lima, have been the scene of several protests and marches, both for and against the former president, revealing divisions within the population about his detention and legacy. At a recent rally, Roberto, a supporter from the town of Ica, held aloft a picture of Mr Fujimori, saying ?He has pacified the country, he has defeated terrorism and fought poverty.? Yet just streets away, Gisella Ort?z, sister of one of the victims of ?La Cantuta? massacre, appealed for justice: ?Fujimori is simply a murderer?. Mr Fujimori is currently being held at a police base in the outskirts of Lima, where he is painting landscapes as a way of distraction, and where a special courtroom was set up for the start of the trial on Monday.