US EditionEcuador soldiers sentenced to decades in prison over disappearance of murdered boys
Eleven soldiers received 34-year sentences for the forced disappearance and deaths of four boys amid a militarized crackdown on crime, with five collaborators sentenced to 2.5 years.
- On Dec 22, an Ecuadorean court sentenced eleven Ecuadorean soldiers to more than 34 years for the forced disappearance of Steven Medina, Nehemías Arboleda, Ismael Arroyo and Josué Arroyo in Guayaquil.
- The disappearance occurred during a military offensive in Guayaquil on Dec. 8, 2024, launched under President Daniel Noboa's militarised security strategy deploying soldiers amid rising gang violence.
- Security camera footage obtained by local journalists and witness testimony showed a military patrol on night duty detained, beat, stripped and subjected four boys to mock executions before abandoning them in Taura.
- The judge ordered reparations including an official apology, a commemorative plaque, human rights training for Ecuador's military, and the convicted soldiers face a murder trial next year.
- The case has intensified scrutiny of President Daniel Noboa's militarisation of cities, as Amnesty International and other human rights groups reported 43 people missing since Noboa took office.
48 Articles
48 Articles
Quito. One year and fourteen days after the crime occurred, a court of law sentenced 11 military personnel as direct perpetrators and received a 34-year prison sentence for the crime of enforced disappearance of four children from the Las Malvinas neighbourhood in the city of Guayaquil.
An Ecuadorian court has sentenced eleven military personnel to more than 34 years in prison for kidnapping four boys. They must also pay nearly €8,500 to the boys' families and publicly ask for forgiveness. Five soldiers received two-and-a-half-year prison sentences for complicity in the kidnapping. Ismael and Josué Arroyo and their friends Saúl Arboleda and Steven Medina were between 11 and 15 years old when they were kidnapped. Their families …
On Monday 22 December, Ecuadorian justice strongly condemned the soldiers responsible for the enforced disappearance of four minors between the ages of 11 and 15 years. Their charred bodies were discovered on Christmas Day 2024 near the city of Guayaquil. The state accepted the verdict and will have to apologize publicly.
December 22, 2025 – Guayaquil (Ecuador) – EFE. Ecuador’s justice handed down a sentence of almost thirty-five years in prison against eleven members of the army for the disappearance of four Afro-Ecuadorian youths. The judicial process determined that the uniforms carried out an illegal detention in Guayaquil, after which the victims were found dead with signs of extreme violence and burns days after their arrest. In the same ruling, the magistr…
The Office of the Prosecutor of Ecuador convicted 16 soldiers for the enforced disappearance of the four children of La Malvinas: Joshua and Ismael Arroyo, Steven Medina and Nehemías Arboleda.
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