The two instigators of last year's assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio were sentenced today to 34 years and eight months in prison each, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The three accomplices received 12 years in prison each. The prosecutor's office asked for maximum penalties for the accused.
The sentences of the man and woman accused of inciting the murder included a blood fine of $100,000 for each member of the slain politician's family. The remaining three convicts will have to pay $33,000 in blood fines.
Fifty-nine-year-old Villavicencio was killed by gunmen on motorcycles on August 9 last year as he was leaving a campaign meeting at a school in the capital, Quito. Thirteen people were injured in the attack.
The slain politician had previously received threats, but authorities have not said anything about a possible motive for the crime.
As the judges announced the sentences, family members and friends of Villavicencio gathered in a demonstration in Quito, carrying posters, photos and flags and calling for justice and prison for all those accused of the crime.
According to prosecutors, one of the instigators, Carlos Angulo, nicknamed "The Invisible One", coordinated the killing from a prison in Ecuador, where he was being held, and gave instructions via video conference on the phone of another person, who, however, was not charges were filed.
Laura Castillo, who is the other instigator, was involved in providing money and motorcycles for the perpetrators of the murder.
Their three accomplices - Eric Ramirez, Victor Flores and Alexandra Cimbo - were responsible for informing the killers of the victim's movements, prosecutors said.
A total of 13 people have been charged in the case, including several Colombians who, after being arrested, were killed in prison riots last October in prisons in Guayaquil and Quito, where they were being held during the investigation, the AP said.< /p>