Former Ecuador President, RAFAEL CORREA has been sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption while in office.

The country’s Attorney- General’s office said CORREA, who was president from 2007 to 2017 but now lives in exile in Belgium, is one of 18 people convicted of bribery.

The former President, who has always claimed to be a victim of political persecution and accuses his country’s judges of complicity, hit out at the sentence.

He was found guilty of accepting funds from private businesses for his 2013 election campaign in return for state contracts.