GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (Reuters) -- Four suspects, three of
                 them linked to the Guatemala military, were convicted of murder Friday
                 in the 1998 murder of prominent human rights advocate Bishop Juan
                 Gerardi.

                 A three-judge tribunal found retired army Col. Byron Lima Estrada, his army
                 captain son Byron Lima Oliva and former presidential bodyguard Jose Obdulio
                 Villanueva guilty of murder and sentenced them each to 30 years in prison.

                 Roman Catholic priest Mario Orantes was sentenced to 20 years as an
                 accessory to the murder while housemaid Margarita Lopez was acquitted.

                 Gerard was found bludgeoned to death April 26, 1998, in his Guatemala City
                 residence shortly after releasing a report blaming the military for most of the
                 200,000 deaths during the Central American nation's 36-year civil war.

                 The case, delayed for three years as prosecutors, witnesses and a judge fled the
                 country amid death threats, has been seen as a test of Guatemala's fragile justice
                 system. The trial began March 23, two days after a grenade attack on one
                 judge's house.

                    Copyright 2001 Reuters.