A PERUVIAN court 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.

Genix Saboya Saboya and Limber Rios 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.

Mr Inuma, a Kichwa leader, was shot on November 29 2023 as he travelled by boat back to his community, Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu, in Peru’s northern Amazonian region of San Martin. 

Tom Younger, Peru programme co-ordinator 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 Mr Villalobos of ordering the killing and the other men of planning and carrying out the attack.

Cristina Gavancho, a lawyer with the Lima-based Legal Defence Institute, called the ruling an “exemplary sentence” and said the lengthy prison terms could set an important precedent.