A Philippine local court has sentenced members of the Ampatuan family and their accomplices to 40 years in prison for the massacre of 58 individuals — 32 of whom were journalists — in 2009.
On 23 November 2009, a group scheduled to file an election candidacy bid in Maguindanao province, located in the southern Mindanao island, was stopped at a checkpoint by the 'private army' of the Ampatuan family. Those who joined the convoy, including journalists who were covering it, were massacred and hastily buried on site.
