国际英语新闻：Fujimori sentenced to 25-year imprisonment

LIMA, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The Special Penal of Peru's Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) to 25 years in prison for "crimes against humanity."

    Fujimori, 70, was found guilty of massacres of 25 people, and convicted of kidnapping and torture of journalist Gustavo Gorritti and businessman Samuel Dyer.

    Fujimori listened to the sentence in calm and his defense team said he would appeal.

    During the trial, the court examined cases including the killing of 15 people, one minor included, in Lima's suburb in November 1991, the kidnapping and killing of nine college students and their professors in June 1992 and the kidnapping and torture of Gorritti and Dyer on April 5, 1992.

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori listens to his sentence during his trial at the Special Police Headquarters in Lima April 7, 2009.  Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday after being convicted of "crimes against humanity".

    Meanwhile, the paramilitary group Colina controlled by Fujimori is found responsible for the disappearance of 50 people.

    Fujimori had also commanded an "anti-subversion strategy" which included "systemic and selective practices of forced disappearances and arbitrary executions (killings)," said the court.

    On several occasions, Fujimori said he was innocent and that he was being tried for political reasons.

    Fujimori is the first elected Latin American president who faced a trial in his own country for human rights violations.

    Fujimori is already serving a sentence of six years for abuse of power in ordering raid on the house of the wife of his former advisor Vladimiro Montesino on October 2000.

    Out of the court, Fujimori's followers and opposers had small clashes. About 10,000 policemen were deployed since Monday to ensure security.

    Fujimori's daughter Keiko Fujimori said on Tuesday that despite the sentence against his father, which was "an aberration, full of hatred and revenge," the "Fujimorism will continue growing."

    In Chile, the Group of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees of Chile (AFDD) celebrated the sentence against Fujimori.

    The group's spokeswoman Mireya Garcia said that "a sentence of this kind proves that when the justice has conscience it is possible to punish" crimes against humanity.

    The Guatemalan Center of Legal Actions of the Human rights (CALDH) said the sentence against Fujimori is a message of hope for the justice systems.

    The CALDH director Mario Minera said "the sentence strengthens the State of Law when the impunity that covers some official who have committed grave violations is challenged."

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's family, son Kenji (L-R), daughter congresswoman Keiko and son-in-law Mark Vito Villanella, attends Fujimori's trial at the Special Police Headquarters in Lima April 7, 2009. Fujimori was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday