January 29, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 19, 1429

WASHINGTON, Jan 28: A top leader of Marxist rebels in Colombia was sentenced on Monday to 60 years in prison for his role in the kidnappings of three US citizens.

Ricardo Palmera, who goes by the nom de guerre Simon Trinidad, is a member of the general staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia’s largest and oldest guerilla group.

He was found guilty in July 2006 of conspiracy to kidnap US contract workers Thomas Howe, Keith Stannsen and Marc Goncalvez, who were captured by rebels after their plane that was spraying herbicides over coca plantations crashed in Colombia in 2003.

The three Americans are still being held hostage by FARC rebels in Colombia, along with 42 others, including Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian senator who also holds French citizenship.—AFP