Life sentence for four convicted of murder of environmental defender Roberto Pacheco in Madre de Dios
Peruvian justice has sentenced four people to life imprisonment for the homicide of environmental defender Roberto Pacheco, which occurred in 2020 in Madre de Dios.
Four sentenced to life imprisonment for killing environmental defender in Madre de Dios
Peruvian justice has handed down life sentences against four people found responsible for the murder of environmental defender Roberto Pacheco, committed on 10 September 2020 in the Amazonian region of Madre de Dios, the Public Ministry reported this Tuesday, according to infobae.com.
The convicted individuals are Hilario Mamani, identified as the intellectual author of the crime, and three members of the Association of Ecological Farmers Los Hijos de Madre de Dios: Leónida Mujica, Rolando Becerra and Marwin Prinche. According to the prosecution, the latter three hired Venezuelan hitman Junior Ortega to murder Pacheco for 5,000 soles, equivalent to approximately 1,500 dollars.
Deputy provincial prosecutor Carlos Rodríguez detailed that the crime took place in the community of San Juan, within an area of a forestry and reforestation concession. Pacheco was authorised to guard that area in the face of an attempted illegal occupation aimed at logging activities. His father, Demetrio Pacheco, was one of the land concession holders.
The prosecution was handled by the Third Supraprovincial Specialised Criminal Prosecution Office for Human Rights and against Terrorism.
The sentence comes in a context of growing violence against indigenous leaders and environmental defenders in the Peruvian Amazon, linked to the advance of illegal logging, illegal gold extraction and drug trafficking. The regions of Ucayali, Loreto, San Martín and Madre de Dios concentrate the majority of these attacks.
Last August, a court of Peru's National Superior Court sentenced four men to sentences of between 15 and 35 years in prison for the homicide of indigenous leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado, murdered in 2023 despite having state protection measures in place against threats from illegal logging mafias.
Source: Google News PE — Crime