Peru court hands lengthy prison terms in killing of Indigenous Amazon defender

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Peruvian court on Monday evening convicted four men of murder-for-hire and sentenced them to between 15 and 35 years in prison for the 2023 killing of Indigenous rainforest defender Quinto Inuma Alvarado , in a closely watched case seen as a test of accountability for violence against Indigenous and environmental defenders in the Amazon.

Genix Saboya Saboya and Limber Ríos Ruiz were each sentenced to 35 years in prison. Segundo Juan Villalobos Guevara, a timber operator whom prosecutors accused of ordering Inuma’s killing, was sentenced to 28 years and four months. Jerly Saboya Saboya, who was convicted as an accomplice, was sentenced to 15 years.

Inuma, a 50-year-old Kichwa leader, was shot and killed on Nov. 29, 2023, as he traveled by boat back to his community, Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu, in Peru ’s northern Amazonian region of San Martin. He was returning from a national meeting of environmental and land defenders. A woman traveling with him was also shot and wounded.

The ruling came nearly 1,000 days after Inuma’s killing. Tom Younger, Peru program coordinator at the Forest Peoples Programme, called the sentences a “decisive step towards justice” and said they showed that impunity for killings of Indigenous defenders “is not inevitable.”

Prosecutors said Inuma was targeted because of his efforts to stop illegal logging on his community’s land. They accused Villalobos, whom Inuma had denounced over illegal logging, of ordering the killing and the other men of planning and carrying out the attack.

Cristina Gavancho, a lawyer with the Lima-based Legal Defense Institute who has accompanied Indigenous organizations and the victims’ families since Inuma’s killing, called the ruling an “exemplary sentence” and said the lengthy prison terms could set an important precedent for other cases involving environmental defenders in Peru.

Gavancho said it was the first case in Peru involving the killing of an Indigenous defender to result in sentences this severe.

The trial began Jan. 20 and continued for nearly eight months. In March, judges traveled from Lima to the Amazonian city of Tarapoto for three days of hearings, where they heard testimony from Inuma’s relatives, other witnesses and a survivor of the attack.

Inuma had spent years denouncing illegal logging, drug trafficking and encroachment on his community’s territory. Between 2016 and 2023, members of Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu filed 13 complaints with prosecutors over environmental crimes and drug trafficking, according to the Legal Defense Institute.

Peru’s Justice Ministry classified Inuma as being at high risk in 2021 and ordered police protection for him and his brother. Local authorities also granted him protection measures against illegal logging groups. But police later acknowledged they were unable to carry out preventive patrols in the remote territory because they lacked money for boats and faced difficult geography, according to documents cited by the Legal Defense Institute.

Kevin Arnol Inuma, the murdered leader’s 30-year-old son, said his family received the verdict with a mixture of happiness and sadness after waiting nearly three years for justice.

“Before, there was no response from the state, so they were not afraid to kill,” he told The Associated Press on a phone call just after the verdict. “Now this sets a precedent for Indigenous peoples, a precedent for environmental defenders.”

Inuma’s death became emblematic of the dangers faced by Indigenous people protecting forests and ancestral lands in Peru’s Amazon , where illegal logging, drug trafficking, mining and land grabbing have pushed into remote territories with limited state presence.

Those dangers were underscored again just a day before Monday’s verdict. Américo Pascuala Tomisha, a 57-year-old Ashéninka Indigenous leader and former head of the Onconashari Indigenous community, was shot dead Sunday while patrolling his community’s territory in Peru’s Amazonian Ucayali region, according to the regional Indigenous organization ORAU.

ORAU said Pascuala encountered outsiders allegedly extracting oil from copaiba trees inside the community’s territory and was shot after a confrontation. The organization said he had previously reported incursions by settlers and other outsiders and called on authorities Monday to investigate his killing and strengthen protection for Indigenous leaders.

Pascuala’s killing came weeks after Asháninka communities along the Peru-Brazil border raised alarms about armed incursions into Indigenous territories. In July, Indigenous leaders in neighboring Brazil sought government protection after five men carrying machine guns entered their territory, threatened families and searched for community leaders. Brazil and Peru subsequently agreed to increase cooperation to protect Indigenous territories along their shared Amazonian border.

The court also ordered 750,000 soles (about $223,500) in compensation for Inuma’s legal heirs and 250,000 soles (about $74,500) for Axeldina Barbarán Tapullima, who was wounded in the attack. The payments would take effect only if the ruling, which can be appealed, becomes final, Gavancho said. The defendants have five days after receiving the court’s full written judgment to file an appeal.

For Gavancho, the ruling was significant not only because of the prison terms but also because of the compensation the court recognized for Inuma’s family and the woman who survived the attack.

“I think this emblematic case can serve as a precedent for other cases involving environmental defenders in Peru,” Gavancho said.

But Inuma said his family still does not feel safe and fears what could happen if those convicted were eventually freed.

His father, he said, had spent years defending the territory that earlier generations had left to the community, and that responsibility had now passed to his family and others.

He said he hoped other families of murdered defenders would not have to wait as long for their cases to move through Peru’s justice system.

“Although they can no longer give us our family members back, we want justice for the other defenders whose cases are still going on,” he said. “Now my father can rest in peace because justice has been done.”

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