BY LUCIEN O. CHAUVIN
  Special to The Herald

  LIMA - Nearly one year to the day after his arrest following a continent-wide manhunt, former Peruvian strongman Vladimiro Montesinos was convicted of
  abuse of authority during his 10 years as security advisor to former President Alberto Fujimori.

  A Peruvian court Monday sentenced Montesinos to nine years and four months in prison for illegally heading the National Intelligence Service under Fujimori, who
  governed Peru from 1990 to November 2000, when he resigned. Montesinos was also fined approximately $2.85 million.

  During the sentencing, the court said the 57-year-old Montesinos, who faces even more serious charges in dozens of cases, admitted that he had run the National
  Intelligence Service, even though he had never been officially named its leader.

  In that role, he was perhaps the most feared individual in the country -- operating largely from the shadows and rarely appearing in public -- as well as the most
  powerful after the president himself. On Monday, however, he stood motionless and silent during the hour-long sentencing, staring at Judge Saúl Peña Farfán while
  a court reporter read the charges against him.

  The sentence was read in a theater-turned-courtroom at the Callao Navy Base, where Montesinos has been held since his extradition to Peru on June 25, 2001,
  following his arrest in Venezuela one day earlier.

  This was the first sentence handed down against Montesinos in more than 60 cases pending against him. It was also the fourth attempt by the judge to have the
  sentence read. On earlier dates, Montesinos switched lawyers and requested that the judge be removed from the case.

  Montesinos is accused of masterminding a web of corruption that penetrated deep into all sectors of Peru's ruling class. Fujimori resigned as the scandal began to
  unfold, living in self-exile in Japan since November 2000. Montesinos did not make a statement after the sentencing, but his lawyer, Estela Valdivia Cano, said he
  would appeal the sentence.

  STRATEGY

  Valdivia added that she had no problems with the sentence, saying sarcastically that nine years seems a fair price to pay ``for having defeated terrorism, achieving
  peace with Ecuador and unifying the armed forces and national police.''

  Luis Jochamowitz, who recently published a book on Montesinos, says Valdivia's comments are part of the Montesinos defense strategy.

  ''Montesinos needs to change his image. Everyone sees him as a gangster. By placing his actions within the political context of the 1990s, he is trying to politicize
  his defense and gain some public sympathy,'' says Jochamowitz.

  Building up support will not be easy. During his 10 years with Fujimori, Montesinos was seen in public only a handful of times. From the onset of the
  administration, he was often portrayed in the press as sinister, a kind of Peruvian Rasputin.

  Montesinos' distant past is no help. He was court-martialed by the military in 1976, accused of forging the president's signature to make a trip to the United
  States. He spent several years in a military prison, during which time he began studying law. He emerged in the mid-1980s as a defense lawyer for Peruvian drug
  traffickers.

  His ties to drug traffickers resurfaced throughout his tenure in the Fujimori administration. In 1997, jailed drug kingpin Demetrio Chávez claimed he paid
  Montesinos $50,000 for every drug flight out of Peru.

  ONLY THE BEGINNING

  Drugs, arms trafficking and human rights violations are a big part of the on-going investigations, and prosecutors were quick to point out that Monday's sentencing
  is only the beginning of the process.

  ''There is still a long way to go with the case. People should not think that this sentence is the final verdict. This case involved only one of the minor charges against
  him,'' says Special Prosecutor Luis Vargas Valdivia.

  Under Peruvian law, sentences are not cumulative, so Monday's ruling will negate any additional sentences of less than nine years. The same holds true if
  Montesinos receives a sentence above nine years in future cases.

  NOTORIOUS VIDEO

  Montesinos' fall from the height of Peruvian politics began Sept. 14, 2000, when a video he had secretly taped in his office at the National Intelligence Services
  was made public. On that video, Montesinos is seen giving a congressman $14,000 to switch political parties and join Fujimori's bloc. Two days later, Fujimori
  announced that he was firing Montesinos and that he was calling a new election.

  Montesinos left for political asylum in Panama a week later, returned to Peru briefly in October and then disappeared until his arrest in Venezuela months later.

  In the meantime, thousands of videos filmed by Montesinos have been made public, and he claims to have thousands more hidden away for future use. In one of
  the few photos of Montesinos taken before his arrest, he is seen reading a book while living in exile. A videotape is poking out from the book.