Killer of the son of El Salvador’s president-elect sentenced to 16 years in prison

October 9th, 2009 Smuggler jailed 3 years for deadly voyage to PRSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Dominican smuggler has been sentenced to three years in prison for a sea voyage carrying illegal immigrants to Puerto Rico that took the lives of three people. Simeon de la Cruz was captain of a vessel that landed in western Puerto Rico with roughly 70 immigrants in October 2007 after two women and a man drowned during the trip across treacherous waters from the Dominican Republic.

October 5th, 2009 Costa Rican ex-president convicted of embezzlementSAN JOSE, Costa Rica — A Costa Rican court has found former President Rafael Calderon guilty of embezzlement and sentenced him to five years in prison. Calderon, who was president from 1990 to 1994, was accused of receiving at least $520,000 in 2004 from a Finnish government loan to Costa Rica's social security system.

September 30th, 2009 Peru's Fujimori sentenced to 6 yrs for corruptionLIMA, Peru — A court has sentenced Alberto Fujimori to six years in prison after the jailed former president pleaded guilty to authorizing wiretaps and bribes to politicians, journalists and businessmen. The 71-year-old politician already faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison after a special Supreme Court panel sentenced him to 25 years for crimes against humanity for authorizing military death squads.

September 26th, 2009 Colombian pilots get 31 yrs in prison for bombingBOGOTA — A judge has found two Colombian air force pilots guilty of murder and sentenced them to 31 years in prison each for the 1998 cluster-bombing of a village that killed 17 people. Judge Martin Suarez found that the pilots, both lieutenants, had acted impetuously, failing to distinguish between civilians and leftist rebels.

August 13th, 2009 Argentina convicts ex-general in 1976 killingBUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A retired general and four other members of the military have been convicted and sentenced to long prison terms in the 1976 killing of a communist activist. Retired Gen.

June 10th, 2009 Chilean ex-generals sentenced for arms smugglingSANTIAGO, Chile — Two retired Chilean generals have been sentenced to prison for shipping arms to Croatia at the time of its battle for independence from Yugoslavia. A Chilean court has sentenced Army Gen.

June 9th, 2009 Texas man gets 10 years for gun violationsBEAUMONT, Texas — A convicted felon has been sentenced to 10 years in a Texas prison over guns his wife bought for him to smuggle into Mexico. Prosecutors say 52-year-old Javier Perez Ochoa of Port Arthur was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in November to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

June 1st, 2009 Salvadoran pres puts wife, ex-guerrilla in CabinetSAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — President-elect Mauricio Funes has appointed his wife and a former Marxist guerrilla to Cabinet posts just hours before starting his five-year term. Funes, the first Salvadoran president from the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, has named First Lady Vanda Pignato as minister of social inclusion.

May 9th, 2009 Croatian lawmaker convicted of war crimesZAGREB, Croatia — A Croatian court has convicted an opposition lawmaker of war crimes, making him the first senior politician from the country to be held responsible for wartime atrocities against Serbs. Branimir Glavas was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for war crimes against civilians.

May 1st, 2009 LOS ANGELES - Police in Los Angeles identified a 72-year-old man as the city's worst serial killer, charging him with two murders in 1972 and 1976 and linking him with 25 others. Police Thursday said that DNA matching John Floyd Thomas Jr, an insurance adjuster, was found at three other murder scenes from the 1970s and 1980s and that detectives were examining his connection to other cases linked to the notorious Westside Rapist.

April 19th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Sunday called for 'fairness' for the Iranian-American journalist who has been sentenced to eight years in prison by a court here on charges of espionage. In a letter to prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, Ahmadinejad advised him 'to precisely handle the case, observe administration of justice and ensure the accused can freely and legally defend herself', IRNA reported.

January 27th, 2009 OTTAWA - A 93-year-old Canadian man was sentenced to two years in jail for sexually abusing his daughters some 50 years ago, a media report said here Tuesday. Philippe Hamelin, who is deaf, nearly blind and suffers from a disease similar to Alzheimers, was allowed to serve his sentence in the community without going to jail, the Canadian Press reported.

January 22nd, 2009 BOGOTA - The former mayor of the central Colombian city of Barrancabermeja was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the slaying of journalist Jose Emeterio Rivas in 2003, EFE reported. Julio Cesar Ardila Torres must also pay a fine of more than $500,000 for orchestrating the murder, Judge Nelly Vallejo Aranda said in a verdict handed down Wednesday.

January 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US president-elect Barack Obama Sunday said that it is challenging to close down the Guantanamo prison in Cuba soon after his inauguration Jan 20. 'I think it's going to take sometime.

December 31st, 2008 MUMBAI - A court here Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment a notorious serial killer who had earned the nickname 'Beer man' for leaving an empty beer can beside all his roadside victims, whom he killed by clubbing and stabbing. Ravindra Kantrole was Thursday sentenced for the murder of a man on a foot-overbridge in Marine Lines railway station two years ago, his lawyer said.