2 Ex-Officers Given 7 Years in Failed Coup

A civilian judge has sentenced two former army officers to seven years in prison for their part in a failed coup attempt last May, army spokesman Col. Luis Arturo Isaacs said Thursday.

The former officers, Maj. Gustavo Diaz Lopez and Col. Gustavo Adolfo Padilla Morales, had been stripped of their military rank last year after a previous failed coup attempt on May 11, 1988.

Eleven other active-duty officers face trial on charges of rebellion after the uprising May 9 against the democratically elected government of President Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo.