Three former Peruvian police officers were sentenced in absentia on Thursday to 35 years behind bars for extra-judicial killings of suspected criminals as part of a police “death squad.”

Former commander Raul Prado Ravines and officers Carlos Llanto Ponce and Williams Castano Martinez – all on the run – “belonged to a criminal organization that recruited people prone to committing crimes under the cover of false operations during which people died,” the criminal court said.

The squad acted with impunity under the guise of “a special intelligence group against organized crime.”

The illicit operations took place between 2009 and 2016, during which time Ravines was twice promoted and given six awards for his work tackling crime.

Seven other defendants were sentenced to between 21 and 26 years in prison. (AFP)