Peru Court Sentences Killers Of Indigenous Land Defenders

Indigenous people attended a hearing at which four men were given near three-decade sentences for the murders of four Amazon land defenders who had crossed swords with illegal loggers (Credit: AFP)

A Peruvian court on Thursday imposed near three-decade sentences on five men who were being retried for the murders of four Indigenous Amazon land defenders who had crossed swords with illegal loggers.

The four leaders of the Ashaninka people -- a group from a remote area along the border between Brazil and Peru -- were killed in front of members of their community on September 1, 2014.