Clan convicted of killing 57 people in politically-motivated massacre

The killers behind the Philippines’ worst peacetime massacre were sentenced to life in prison Thursday, local time, after a decade-long trial that exposed the country’s violent political culture.

The court in Manila convicted 43 people of the 57 shootings on the southern island of Mindanao in 2009. Some 32 journalists were among the dead in the so-called Maguindanao massacre, the largest killing of media workers anywhere in the world.

Prominent among those convicted were the brothers Andal Ampatuan Jr and Zaldy Ampatuan, who were given life without parole for murdering a convoy of relatives, lawyers and supporters of a rival politician. Five of their relatives were also convicted.

Fourteen police were found guilty of being accessories to murder and jailed for between eight and 10 years. More than 50 other people were cleared and 80 who are wanted over the massacre remain at large.

Charges related to a journalist who was the 58th victim were dismissed because only his false teeth have ever been recovered.

Most of the other victims were supporters and family members of Esmael Mangudadatu, a candidate for the post of provincial governor, on their way to file his election papers.

Six others were passing drivers who encountered a checkpoint set up by the Ampatuans. All the victims were found in graves dug by a mechanical digger close to where they had been stopped.

One witness recalled overhearing a conversation between Andal Ampatuan Jr, who was also planning to run in the election, and Andal Ampatuan Sr, the incumbent.

The father, who died in 2015, ordered the killing of everyone except the journalists but his son said: ‘‘Let us kill all of them. Some may talk if we spared them.’’

The principal object of their hostility, Mangudadatu, survived. Anticipating violence, he had asked his wife, sisters and two female lawyers to register his nomination, believing that women would not be attacked. All were killed, and several, including expectant mothers, were raped and mutilated.

Even in a country inured to political violence, the massacre caused shock. Dozens of police, including snipers, patrolled the court. At least three witnesses have been murdered since the massacre, including one former Ampatuan militia man who provided information about the clan’s private army.

Mangudadatu, 51, won the election to become governor and is now a Philippines congressman.