They sentence 28 years in prison to the murderers of 4 environmentalists in Peru

Pucallpa. A Peruvian court sentenced this Thursday 28 years and three months in prison to the five murderers of four Asháninka indigenous leaders who defended natural resources in an area of ​​the Amazon border between Peru and Brazil, a crime that occurred in 2014.

“They are sentenced to 28 years and three months of effective prison, as co-authors of aggravated homicide,” said Judge Karina Bedoya, who specified that the sentence will apply from the moment the convicted persons are arrested.

The decision for the violent death of Edwin Chota, Jorge Ríos, Leoncio Quintisima and Francisco Pinedo, murdered in front of members of their native community Alto Tamaya-Saweto, was read at a hearing of the Collegiate Criminal Court of Ucayali in the city of Pucallpa (northeast ), which tried the convicted persons for the second time.

The four were murdered on September 1, 2014, amid threats for defending their territory and denouncing deforestation, an activity that affects the ecosystem and biodiversity of the area. The deceased left 17 orphans.

The sentence fell on the brothers Josimar and Segundo Atachi, José Carlos Estrada, Hugo Soria and Eurico Mapes. The prosecution had requested 35 years in prison.

The ruling in the Saweto case, as it is popularly known, was well received by the relatives and indigenous Asháninkas present at the hearing, who carried their bows and arrows.

“I am happy with the sentence. It is an achievement of 10 years,” Lita Rojas, widow of Amazonian leader Leoncio Quintisima, told AFP.

Rojas, 47, arrived in Pucallpa after two days of crossing by river and road from the remote community of Alto Tamaya-Saweto, on the Amazon border with Brazil.

“Justice has been done! No more impunity for murderers of environmental defenders,” the NGO Law, Environment and Natural Resources (DAR) said on the social network X.

“As indigenous leaders we are going to continue defending the forest and the rivers, long live Saweto,” some indigenous people celebrated outside the courthouse.

Among those present at the hearing was the Minister of Justice Eduardo Arana and diplomatic representatives of Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United Nations.

– Chota, referent leader –

The trial had begun in November 2023 and it was a second trial for those involved, who were sentenced in the first instance to 28 years in February 2023, but then an appeals court annulled the ruling and ordered another trial in August, alleging ” irregularities” with a testimony, according to the lawyer of the victims’ relatives Yusen Caraza.

The families hope that the ruling will serve as a precedent in the protection of indigenous leaders and environmental defenders.

“We trust and feel a conviction, we trust in justice in court,” lawyer Yusen Caraza told AFP.

The judge also determined that each family of the victims must receive compensation of 50 thousand soles (around 13,400 USD).

The crime unleashed a wave of criticism against the Peruvian authorities for the little attention they gave to the demands for defense of the forests and protection of the lives of native leaders due to threats from logger mafias.

Edwin Chota was a public figure who had become a reference for environmental groups and international media for his defense of the Amazon forests.

According to the NGO Global Witness, at least 54 land and environmental defenders have been murdered in Peru since 2012, of which more than half belonged to indigenous peoples.

For a decade, the American magazine Scientific Reports denounced that the Peruvian government’s policy to protect forests from illegal logging has indirectly caused large-scale resource looting.