The year-long trial of Peruvian ex-president Alberto Fujimori for alleged human rights abuses during his rule (1990-2000) reaches its closing stages Monday, with final arguments from defense lawyers and prosecutors.

Presiding judge Cesar San Martin announced the final movements before he adjourned the trial on December 31, and a court spokesman told AFP Fujimori could be sentenced in the second or third week in February.

Fujimori, 70 and ailing, is accused of ordering two massacres that killed 25 people and of kidnapping an opposition leader and a journalist during his controversial decade in power.

If found guilty, he faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. He is already serving a six-year prison term for abuse of power in an unrelated case.

Prosecutor Avelino Guillen said in his final arguments he plans to prove that in 1991 and 1992 Fujimori approved the so-called "dirty war" against the leftist Shining Path guerrilla group.

During the anti-insurgent campaign, death squads combed the country killing suspected rebel supporters. One of those death squads, the Colina group, is blamed for the two massacres Fujimori is liable for in the trial.

Fujimori's defense lawyer Cesar Nakazaki, in turn, will argue that his client was kept in the dark about the death squads and never gave his approval for the "dirty war."

"It's not been proven that the former president created a policy to violate human rights, nor that he created and directed the Colina group," Nakazaki said.

Either side can appeal the final result of the massacre trial to Peru's Supreme Court.

Fujimori has been held in Lima since he was extradited from Chile in September 2007 to face trial.

Although many Peruvians credit him with reviving their economy and putting down the insurrection by the Shining Path rebels, the former president is also reviled for suspected corruption, autocratic rule and allegedly ordering violent methods against opponents.

He fled to Tokyo in 2000 as a corruption scandal blew up to engulf him, and resigned the presidency by fax from his hotel.

Japan considered Fujimori, whose parents were Japanese, to be a national and refused to extradite him. But Fujimori traveled in 2005 to Chile, which later granted an extradition request from Peru to face trial.

Proceedings have been suspended several times to deal with health issues for Fujimori.

A recess was called for two last two weeks of November so Fujimori could be treated for a stomach infection and slight dehydration.

In September, Fujimori was diagnosed having a benign tumor in his pancreas. Earlier this year, he underwent surgery to have a cancerous growth removed from his mouth. He also suffers from high blood pressure.