A Guatemalan court has sentenced a former soldier to more than 5,000 years in prison for the massacre of 171 people in what is considered one of the worst atrocities in that country’s 36-year civil war.

Prosecutors said the soldier, Santos López Alonzo, 66, who is accused of belonging to an elite squad known as the Kaibiles, had participated in the killings of nearly all of the men, women and children in the farming village of Dos Erres on Dec. 7, 1982, according to Reuters.

Mr. López was sentenced on Wednesday after being deported from the United States in 2016 to face the Guatemalan court, where he was found “responsible as author” of the killings, according to news reports.

He was sentenced to 30 years for crimes against humanity and an additional 30 years for each of the 171 victims, for a total of 5,160 years, although the sentences are symbolic as the maximum someone can serve in Guatemala is 50 years.