Llosa, editor in chief of the newspaper El Casmeno and a reporter with Radio Casma, was arrested in the northern city of Casma and charged with involvement in a 1986 terrorist incident in Cuzco, where he was staying in a hotel at the time. Police raided his home and confiscated several documents, including National Association of Journalists (ANP) posters urging the release of several detained journalists, and an issue of ANP’s newsletter.
A secret tribunal of the Fifth Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Cuzco convicted Llosa, and he was sentenced to six years in prison on August 1, 1995. Three weeks after the verdict, he was unexpectedly transferred to the maximum security Yanamayo Prison. Llosa petitioned the Supreme Court for the nullification of his sentence and was granted a retrial. On June 30, 1997, he was convicted again and sentenced to five years in prison. Llosa again requested the sentence be nullified.
CPJ sent a letter inquiring about Llosa’s legal status on December 22, 1997, but received no response. In December 1998, his case was still under review by the ad hoc commission that was established by President Alberto K. Fujimori in 1996 to examine the files of those convicted under Peru’s anti-terrorism laws.