Six suspects in assassination of Ecuador candidate murdered in prison

FILE PHOTO: A supporter holds a poster of slain presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on the day of the closing campaign rally of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Christian Zurita, who is replacing Villavicencio, in Quito, Ecuador, August 17, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Romero/File Photo

(Reuters) -Six men suspected of involvement in the murder in August of Ecuador's anti-corruption presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio were killed in prison on Friday, the prisons agency said, barely a week before a crucial run-off election.

The killings took place in a penitentiary in Guayaquil, the South American country's largest city, the attorney general's office announced earlier on Friday.