Guatemala jails former soldier for 6,060 years over massacre

A FORMER special forces soldier has been sentence to 6,060 years in prison for a 1982 massacre that claimed 201 lives in Guatemala.

Pedro Pimentel, 55, was deported from California to Guatemala last year to face charges of murder and crimes against humanity and is the fifth soldier sentenced for his role in the Las Dos Erres massacre.

A former comrade testified Pimentel was among 20 soldiers ordered to the village in December 1982 to search for weapons. The soldiers then blindfolded, strangled and bludgeoned villagers and a baby to death with a sledgehammer before dumping them down a well. Pimentel, of the Kaibiles unit, got 30 years for each victim and 30 years for crimes against humanity.