Former Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina sentenced to 16 years in prison for corruption

Former Vice President Roxana Baldetti is also convicted of crimes of customs fraud and illicit association

MADRID, 8 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former president of Guatemala Otto Pérez Molina and the former vice president Roxana Baldetti have been sentenced this Wednesday for the crimes of customs fraud and illicit association, while they have been acquitted of the crime of illicit enrichment for lack of evidence.

The court has sentenced both rulers to 16 years in prison -- eight for each crime -- and to pay a fine of 8 million Guatemalan quetzales (more than one million euros) each for the La Línea case.

Otto Pérez Molina (2012-2015), after learning of the sentence, has been "frustrated and disappointed", since he expected acquittal in the case. "They have no evidence", he declared before stressing that he will appeal the sentence, according to the Guatemalan newspaper 'República'.

In the 'La Línea' case, the court has tried 29 people for customs corruption. Of the defendants, several former senior officials have been acquitted of some crimes under the court's argument of lack of evidence in the prosecution of the Public Ministry.

"The investigation has certain fallacies and errors that are going to determine the acquittals of some involved," said Judge Jeannette Valdez, president of the court, as reported by the newspaper 'Prensa Libre'.

Both Pérez Molina and Baldetti have been in pretrial detention for this case for seven years, when the government fell after the extinct International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) revealed the case.