El Salvador activists acquitted after contentious trial

Prosecutors had sought up to 36 years in prison for the former rebels of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. But the judges acquitted them "due to the statute of limitations" and ordered their immediate release, defense lawyer Carolina Herrador told AFP after the hearing in the city of Sensuntepeque. The court upheld arrest warrants for two other fugitive suspects, Herrador said. Prosecutors accused the eight former guerrillas of killing a woman in 1989 because they suspected she was an army informant.