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Colombia's high court hands down stiff prison sentences to ex-Uribe aides for spying ring

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    Maria del Pilar Hurtado, right, former head of Colombia's domestic intelligence agency, is escorted by judicial police into the Colombian Supreme Court to receive her sentence, in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, April 30, 2015. Hurtado was sentenced to 14 years in prison for a scandal prompted by revelations that the agency she headed in 2007-2008 spied on judges, journalists, and rights activists opposed to then-President Alvaro Uribe. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (The Associated Press)

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    Chief of staff during the government of Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe, Bernardo Moreno, right, talks to Maria del Pilar Hurtado, former head of Colombia's domestic intelligence agency, as they arrive to the Supreme Court in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, April 30, 2015. Hurtado was sentenced to 14 years in prison for a scandal prompted by revelations that the agency she headed in 2007-2008 spied on judges, journalists, and rights activists opposed to then-President Uribe. Moreno was sentence to eight years for conspiracy and abuse of power charges, for his alleged role in a domestic spying scandal. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (The Associated Press)

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    Maria del Pilar Hurtado, right, former head of Colombia's domestic intelligence agency, is escorted by judicial police into the Colombian Supreme Court to receive her sentence, in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, April 30, 2015. Hurtado was sentenced to 14 years in prison for a scandal prompted by revelations that the agency she headed in 2007-2008 spied on judges, journalists, and rights activists opposed to then-President Alvaro Uribe. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (The Associated Press)

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombia's Supreme Court has handed down stiff prison sentences to two close aides of former President Alvaro Uribe for organizing a spying ring that illegally intercepted the communications of the conservative leader's top opponents.

Maria del Pilar Hurtado is the former head of Colombia's intelligence agency. She was sentenced to 14 years in jail while former Uribe chief of staff Bernardo Moreno was given eight years.

Both were convicted in February of spying on journalists, politicians and even Supreme Court justices between 2007 and 2009.

The high court said both officials acted with the acquiescence of Uribe. The former president denies any knowledge.