The former Peruvian intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos - a close aide of the disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori - has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for corruption.

He is already serving a nine-year term for illegally taking control of Peru's intelligence agency, and is due to stand trial on more than 50 other charges.

These relate to human rights abuses, money laundering, embezzlement and arms deals.

The latest case against Montesinos involved charges of illegal favours for relatives of his former lover, including getting her brother out of jail.

Courts want Fujimori

The overall case against Montesinos is considered the most complicated in Peru's history.

It involves investigation of 1,500 other people over accusations into their role in a web of corruption said to have flourished during the Fujimori presidency in the 1990s.

As the corruption scandal began to emerge in November 2000, Montesinos fled the country but was captured in Venezuela.

He has admitted some offences claiming everything he did was on the order of President Fujimori.

Alberto Fujimori fled to Japan where he remains in exile, protected from extradition by his Japanese citizenship.