Rebel leader remains defiant

The retrial of Abimael Guzman, founder of Peru’s Mao-inspired Shining Path movement, opened today with the former philosophy professor who preached a vision of a classless utopia raising a defiant fist.

Manuel Fajardo, Guzman’s lawyer, before the start of the trial in the capital, Lima, that both Guzman and he would refuse to speak during the hearing to protest its illegality.

“We question the unconstitutional anti-terrorism legislation. We question the existence of a special tribunal. We question the draconian penalties,” Fajardo said.

The stooped, grey-haired rebel leader entered the courtroom, wearing tinted glasses and dressed in a dark jacket over a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar.

He turned to reporters, smiled and thrust his fist defiantly into the air before taking his seat with 16 other co-defendants.

The image was reminiscent of 12 years ago, when days after his capture he was placed in a cage, wearing a striped prison uniform and shown to reporters, pacing like a lion and preaching a revolutionary message.

Guzman, 69, mastermind of a bloody insurgency initiated in 1980, was captured in 1992 and sentenced by a secret military tribunal to life in prison without parole.

A truth commission last year blamed the Shining Path for 54% of the nearly 70,000 deaths caused by rebel violence and a brutal state backlash.

Last year, Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled the secret military courts as unconstitutional and prosecutors brought new charges against Guzman and other convicted rebels in civilian court.