EX-SPY CHIEF IS CONVICTED IN PERU

LIMA, Peru -- Vladimiro Montesinos, once one of Peru's most feared men, was
convicted Monday of usurping office - the first of more than 70 criminal
charges ranging from arms smuggling to homicide that the ex-spymaster faces.

Montesinos, accused of orchestrating a vast network of corruption during
former President Alberto Fujimori's rule, was sentenced to nine years in
prison for seizing control of the National Intelligence Service while
serving as an adviser to the agency.

The charge comes 19 months after a bribery scandal involving the former spy
chief triggered the collapse of Fujimori's decade-long authoritarian rule.

Judge Saul Pena fined Montesinos, 57, the equivalent of $2.8 million, along
with a prison term of nine years and four months a " a stiff sentence for a
relatively minor charge. Prosecutors had requested only a seven-year sentence.

Montesinos, wearing a black windbreaker and dark slacks, reacted coolly as
a court secretary read the verdict in a makeshift courtroom at a naval base
outside Lima where he is being held in a maximum-security prison.

When asked if he had anything to say, Montesinos said quietly that he will
exercise his right to appeal.

Under Peruvian law, minor charges like usurpation of office are prosecuted
in expedited trials without public hearings. A judge rules based on
closed-door testimony and evidence gathered.

Judicial authorities hope to begin a series of public trials later this
year that will cover the dozens of other accusations against Montesinos,
Pena said.

Most of the charges involve corruption. A handful are related drug
trafficking, arms smuggling and homicide, including accusations that
Montesinos directed a paramilitary death squad.

Pena said the six anti-corruption judges who are handling the other cases
involving Montesinos have not yet decided how to proceed with the trials,
which are considered the most complicated in the history of Peru's courts.

The spymaster has cooperated with authorities on cases involving
corruption, but not on ones that carry a life sentence, such as drug
trafficking and human rights abuses, said Richard Rondon, a prosecutor who
is investigating Montesinos.

The maximum prison sentence for corruption is 12 years. Multiple sentences
would be served concurrently rather than accumulate. The one year
Montesinos already has served in jail will count toward his sentence.

Montesinos' lawyer, Estela Valdivia, told reporters after the hearing that
the ruling is unjust because it does not recognize that Montesinos used his
power to defeat Peru's guerrilla movements and bring peace to a country
bloodied by years of leftist insurgency.

Justice Minister Fernando Olivera said Montesinos got what he deserved.

"A criminal of the stature of Montesinos deserves the greatest sentence for
violating the law," he said.

Montesinos was de facto head of Peru's intelligence service and top
security adviser to Fujimori. He was considered the architect of Fujimori's
successful counterinsurgency campaign, which included draconian
anti-terrorism laws.

In September 2000, a leaked videotape showed Montesinos bribing a
congressman to switch to the government party.