Escobar ally sentenced in Colombian candidate hit

BOGOTA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A former Colombian senator and adviser to the late cocaine king Pablo Escobar was sentenced on Thursday to 24 years in jail for his role in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan.

Giving closure to the most infamous political crime of the country's hyper-violent 1980s, Alberto Santofimio was convicted by a Bogota judge of "murder for terrorist purposes."

Escobar's ex-girlfriend, model and newscaster Virginia Vallejo, had said she overheard Santofimio talk Escobar into ordering the hit as a way to protect the drug lord from extradition to the United States.

The charismatic Galan, who called for the extradition of cocaine traffickers in his trademark fiery speeches, was shot dead during a campaign event in a Bogota suburb.

His campaign manager, Cesar Gaviria, went on to win the election in Galan's stead and later headed the Organization of American States.

Escobar waged a bombing campaign to pressure the government against extradition and ordered the deaths of hundreds of politicians and rival drug gang members before he was killed by police in a 1993 Medellin shootout.