The corpse of former Maoist Shining Path guerrilla leader Abimael Guzman, who died in prison on September 11, must be cremated within 24 hours, the prosecution said Thursday (September 23).
The
"criminal prosecution (...) of Callao ordered this afternoon the cremation of the body of terrorist leader Manuel Rubén Abimael Guzmán Reinoso,"
the prosecution said in a statement posted on Twitter.
The Ministries of Justice and the Interior must proceed with the cremation
"within a maximum period of 24 hours"
, he added.
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This announcement comes as the prosecution has just closed the investigation into the circumstances of the death of the former rebel leader, who died at the age of 86 from bilateral pneumonia.
An investigation is systematically carried out for detainees who died in prison.
The body of the former guerrilla has been found since his death in a morgue in the port of Callao, west of Lima.
The prosecution had rejected a request from his widow, Elena Yparraguirre, also imprisoned for life, for him to be handed over and buried.
He cited national security reasons for cremating the body, fearing that a grave could become a place of pilgrimage for Shining Path supporters.
A law was passed by Parliament to authorize state cremation of the corpse.
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Nicknamed the "Pol Pot of the Andes" because of the cruelty of his movement, Abimael Guzman was serving a life sentence following two convictions in 2006 and 2018. He was responsible for one of the bloodiest conflicts in America Latin, which rocked Peru between 1980 and 2000, and left tens of thousands dead and missing, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.