Peruvian court sentences Shining Path leader to life in prison

LIMA, Peru – A Peruvian court has convicted a top leader of the Shining Path rebel group and sentenced him to life in prison without parole.

Florindo Flores, better known as Comrade Artemio, was convicted of terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering. The three-judge court also ordered him to pay a $180 million fine. He is appealing Friday's conviction.

Artemio was captured in February 2012 in the Alta Huallaga Valley, a stronghold of the fanatical rebel group in the late 1980s and early 1990s before it was largely defeated.

He led a Shining Path remnant that authorities said was deeply involved in protecting the cocaine trade in the valley where it originated more than a century ago.

He was especially close to the movement's jailed leader, Abimael Guzman, who was captured in 1992 and is serving life without parole.