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US citizen gets 30 yrs jail for Bolivia bombings
A Bolivian court has handed down a 30-year prison term to a US citizen responsible for March 2006 bombings in La Paz that left two people dead, Spanish news agency EFE reported on Thursday.
A Bolivian court has handed down a 30-year prison term to a US citizen responsible for March 2006 bombings in La Paz that left two people dead, Spanish news agency EFE reported on Thursday.
Lestat Claudio de Orleans will not be eligible for parole and must serve his sentence at Chonchocoro prison in the Andean highlands, the court ruled.
His Uruguayan girlfriend Alda Ribeiro, a partner in the crime, was also sentenced to 30 years in prison, the report quoted ABI news agency as saying Wednesday.
On March 21, 2006, a dynamite bomb detonated by the two at Linares Hotel in La Paz killed two people and wounded four.
A second explosive device planted at the Riosinho hotel was detected by an employee, and 19 guests were evacuated before the bomb went off. Four people were injured in the explosion.
Bolivia's leftist president, Evo Morales, initially blamed Washington for the bombings, but later said that Orleans and Ribeiro had no connection to the US government.
