File photo: Retired Philippine general Jovito Palparan at the time of his arrest in 2014, convicted of the kidnapping of two university students AFP

MANILA: A retired Philippine army general was sentenced yesterday to decades behind bars over the 2006 disappearance of two activists, hailed by campaigners as a rare case of a top official being held to account. Jovito Palparan, dubbed "The Butcher" by leftist groups for his brutal anti-insurgency tactics against communist guerillas, was convicted of kidnapping and handed a minimum term of 20 years by a court in Bulacan province just north of Manila.

Palparan and three other ex-military officers were accused of abducting two female university students in 2006, on the suspicion they were linked to communist groups. The women remain missing. The court ruled that witness testimonies that the two students were seen in a military camp being tortured were "credible". One witness said the women told him they were raped. - AFP