27 years in prison for FARC rebel abductions

- A member of the Colombian rebel group FARC is Tuesday in the United States sentenced to imprisonment for 27 years for his role in the kidnapping of three Americans in 2003. Beltran men guarded 16 months in Colombia and threatened with violence.

The kidnapped Americans were freed in 2008 during an operation by the Colombian army. Beltran was extradited last year from Colombia to the United States. He confessed in court and asked the prosecutors to debt forgiveness, made the US Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Earlier, three other FARC rebels were convicted of kidnapping, including rebel leader Simon Trinidad. He is seen as the mastermind behind the kidnapping and was in the US in 2008 was sentenced to a prison term of sixty years. Trinidad is possible rather freely to participate in peace talks with the FARC in Colombia and Cuba.