"BOGOTA, Colombia — The trial is due to start Tuesday for five men over the killing of an Indigenous Amazon leader, in a rare legal case that prosecutors and advocates say could test whether Peru can hold perpetrators accountable for violence linked to illegal logging and drug trafficking in one of the world’s most dangerous regions for environmental defenders.

Kichwa tribal leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado, 50, was killed on Nov. 29, 2023, after repeatedly denouncing illegal activity within his community’s territory.

Prosecutors are seeking life sentences under charges of contract killing, a first in a case involving the murder of an Indigenous environmental defender in Peru.

The trial is being closely watched by Indigenous groups, environmental advocates and international observers as a test of whether Peru can curb violence tied to illegal deforestation and drug trafficking in the Amazon, where community leaders who defend forests and land rights often face threats with little protection and few cases ever reaching court."

Steven Grattan reports for the Associated Press January 19, 2026. [2]