The handover, following identification procedures finalised 34 years after their deaths, took place in the farming community of Llacchuas in Peru’s Ayacucho region.

The mountainous region was the epicentre of a two-decade insurgency by Shining Path guerrillas.

Prior to the handover of the remains by government officials, families of the victims bearing white coffins took part in a procession through the streets of the small town.

On April 22, 1984, guerrillas used guns, knives and machetes to kill 26 peasant farmers – men and women – whose families have since spent decades looking for their remains and demanding justice.

In September, President Martin Vizcarra approved a law that will create a gene bank to help in the search for Peru’s “disappeared.”

The insurgency, and government repression, was responsible for the deaths of some 70,000 people from 1980-2000.

A 2003 report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that just under half were killed by the Shining Path while a third died at the hands of government security forces and local militias. The rest were unattributed.