Priest and Army men found guilty of bishop's murder

A Guatemalan court has convicted three military men and a priest over the murder of Roman Catholic Bishop and human rights crusader Juan Gerardi.

Gerardi, the 75-year-old head of the church’s human rights office in Guatemala City was battered to death in 1998 with a concrete block at his seminary.

Col Disrael Lima Estrada, the country’s chief of military intelligence, his son, Capt Byron Lima Oliva, and Jose Obdulio Villanueva, both former members of the presidential guard, were sentenced to 30 years in jail for murder.

The Rev Mario Orantes, Gerardi’s former assistant, received 20 years for giving the killers access to and information on Gerardi.