Bogota, Colombia - Colombian courts on Wednesday sentenced seven former Chiquita Brands executives to $3.4 million in fines and over 11 years in prison, saying the multinational banana company's leaders helped finance violence.

The sentence marks the first time Chiquita leadership faced punishment, finding the seven accused guilty of "aggravated conspiracy" and held them responsible for multiple crimes during the worst period of conflict in the banana-growing region of Uraba.

Among those convicted are three former executives who held leadership roles at the company in Colombia between 1990 and 2004, including one American, Charles Dennis Keiser.

The multinational company was accused of transferring $2 million to the now-defunct United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), an extreme rightwing group of paramilitaries that sowed terror for two decades.

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The fierce war pitted AUC against leftist guerrillas, who were sometimes aided by the regular army.

The decision comes after a US court set a multi-million dollar compensation fund for victims of the civil war in 2024.

In the US case, a jury found the company liable for financing AUC, according to EarthRights, an NGO that helped build the case.

The jury awarded the surviving family members $38.3 million in damages for the deaths of eight victims.