Policemen Get 12 Years for Trying to Kill Ecuador Leader

W460

An Ecuadoran judge sentenced six police officers to 12-year terms Tuesday for trying to assassinate President Rafael Correa during a 2010 rebellion.

The bloody unrest left 10 people dead and 274 wounded.

During the police mutiny, which erupted over bonus cuts, protesting officers besieged Correa for 12 hours inside a hospital where he had taken refuge, killing one of his bodyguards and opening fire on his armored car as he finally escaped with an elite rescue unit.

The police officers were convicted in August. In all, 40 people have now been convicted of involvement in the rebellion.

At the time of the unrest, Correa, a socialist who has been in power since 2007, blamed the rebellion on supporters of Lucio Gutierrez, an ex-army colonel who was president from 2003 to 2005, and said the mutinous police wanted to stage a coup.

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