May 17, 2002	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 4, 1423

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 16: A court in the northern Brazilian state of Para sentenced a military police colonel to 228 years in prison Thursday for a 1996 operation that resulted in the death of 19 protesters.

On April 17, 1996, Mario Colares Pantoja led an operation to break up a group of 1,500 farmers blocking a road in the town of Eldorado dos Carajas, in a protest demanding agrarian reforms. Nineteen of the peasants were killed. After a two-day trial, the jury found Pantoja guilty in a 4-3 vote early Thursday. He received 12 years in prison for each of the 19 protesters killed.

Because it is his first brush with the law, Pantoja can appeal the ruling to a higher court.

Another police commander involved in the operation, Major Raimundo Almendra, was absolved of guilt due to the lack of evidence linking him directly to the massacre.—AFP