(submitted by gekkogecko)

Reuters

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - A Peruvian rebel leader told a
court on Thursday he was suffering mental problems
because of 12 years of no sex and tough jail
conditions.

"Since I am subjected to this sexual abstinence ...
because of such an unjust and inhuman (prison) regime,
I suffer from a certain (mental) imbalance and
sometimes I forget things too, I have problems
concentrating," Victor Polay, leader of the Tupac
Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA, told the judge.

Polay, 53, who is married with three children, has
been held in Peru's top security jail on a naval base
near Lima since his recapture in 1992 following a
sensational escape from another jail through a
1,000-foot (300-meter) tunnel.

The MRTA won worldwide notoriety with a 126-day
hostage siege in Lima in 1996-97.

Polay, who has apologized to victims of his group's
killings, bombings and kidnappings, is being retried
on terrorism charges after Peru's top court threw out
the treason charge for which he was jailed for life by
a military court.

Inmates in Peruvian jails are allowed conjugal visits
but Polay and other rebel leaders were held for years
in isolation for all but half an hour a day in tiny
concrete cells.

Polay's jail conditions have improved and he is now
allowed more visits, more exercise time and has more
space than during the 1990s, but he still has no sex
and is being held in a solitary cell, prison officials
say.

Polay's mother, Otilia Campos, says her son was
tortured and lost about 66 lbs (30 kg). "He was a
ghost, a skeleton ... I'm sure it's had consequences
on his mind," she told reporters.

Abimael Guzman, the leader of the deadlier Shining
Path movement, and his longtime companion, were also
jailed for life in the same prison but were allowed
cozy companionship and other privileges, including
reported romantic dinners, after agreeing to peace
talks with the then government.

Prosecutors want Polay sentenced to life, but he says
he is guilty of rebellion not terrorism, and wants a
shorter term.

"Because of my lack of memory and some defense
mechanisms, I tend ... a bit to evade reality," said
Polay, looking weary but sincere. "But I want to
collaborate with this trial."

Judge Pablo Talavera ordered him to undergo a full
psychiatric assessment before he is cross-examined.

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