Ecuadorean soldiers found guilty of boys' forced disappearance

The four boys were picked up by a military patrol and their bodies were later found mutilated and burned.

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The discovery of the beaten and burned remains of the four boys, aged between 11 and 15, shocked the violence-wracked nation.

The court found a military patrol had picked up the boys as they returned from playing football in the city of Guayaquil, forced them to strip off their clothes, beat them and left them naked in a desolate, dangerous and abandoned location.

One of the boys called his father but, by the time he arrived, they were no longer there. Their burned bodies were found days later close to a military base near Guayaquil.

In total, 17 soldiers were on trial over the disappearance of 15-year-old Nehemías Arboleda, 11-year-old Steven Medina, and brothers Ismael, 15, and Josué Arroyo, 14.