An Ecuadorean court has sentenced 11 soldiers to more than 34 years in prison over the forced disappearance and killing of four boys aged 11 to 15 during a military operation in Guayaquil.
The children vanished in December last year after being detained during a night patrol amid President Daniel Noboa’s crackdown on organized crime. Prosecutors said the soldiers beat the boys, stripped them, and abandoned them in a rural area south of the city.
Days later, authorities identified four charred bodies as the missing children. Five soldiers who cooperated with investigators received reduced sentences, while one senior officer was acquitted.
The case has sparked national outrage and renewed scrutiny of Ecuador’s military operations.
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