Convicted instigators in murder of Ecuador presidential candidate get 34-year prison sentences

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The two instigators of the 2023 assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio have been sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison. Three accomplices have been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Ecuador’s prosecutor’s office had requested the maximum sentence for the five defendants. The 59-year-old Villavicencio was killed by gunmen on motorcycles last Aug. 9 as he left a school in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, after a campaign rally. As the judges announced the sentences Friday, family and friends of Villavicencio demonstrated in the capital carrying posters, photographs and flags in calling for justice and prison for all those responsible.