Largely symbolic sentence?

The AP story floating around following Pedro Pimentel Rios' trial and sentencing is a bit annoying.

A former member of an elite Guatemalan military force extradited from the United States last July was sentenced to 6,060 years in prison for his role in the killings of 201 people in a 1982 massacre.

Pedro Pimentel Rios was the fifth former special forces soldier sentenced to 6,060 years or more for what became known as the "Dos Erres" massacre after the northern Guatemala hamlet where the killings occurred during the country's 1960-1996 civil war.

The sentence that was handed down late Monday by a three-judge panel is largely symbolic since under Guatemalan law the maximum time a convict can serve is 50 years. It specified 30 years for each of the 201 deaths, plus 30 years for crimes against humanity.

Pimentel got thirty years for each of the deaths and another 30 for crimes against humanity. The 54-year old could serve a 50-year term which would be a life-sentence.It's another important step towards tackling impunity for crimes committed during the Guatemalan civil war.

Elizabeth Malkin at the New York Times has it better.

Guatemalan law allows convicts to serve a maximum of 50 years, but the sentence assures that Mr. Pimentel, who is in his 50s, will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Another perpetrator of the Dos Erres massacre,  Gilberto Jordan, is serving ten years in a US prison for immigration violations. I wouldn't be surprised if he is released early and sent back to Guatemala to face trial.

The big trial and hopefully sentencing of Efraín Ríos Montt is yet to come.