QUITO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's former Vice President Jorge Glas was sentenced to 13 years in prison for embezzling public funds intended for reconstruction following a devastating 2016 earthquake, local media said Monday.

According to Ecuadorian newspapers, the sentence was unanimously passed after six days of trial hearings by a tribunal of the National Court of Justice.

The tribunal determined that Glas and the former secretary of the Reconstruction Committee, Carlos Bernal, had taken advantage of their positions to misappropriate public funds by prioritizing projects that did not address urgent reconstruction needs in the provinces of Manabi and Esmeraldas -- the hardest hit areas by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that claimed over 600 lives.

Glas, who is serving time in prison for two previous corruption convictions, attended the hearings in person and denied the accusations, asserting that he never managed funds for the reconstruction process.

The ruling is a first-instance ruling and can be appealed.

Glas was arrested in April 2024 during a raid on the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where he had sought refuge since December 2023 and had been granted asylum. ■