Uruguay's last dictator, Gregorio Alvarez, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for 37 homicides during the nation's 1973-1985 military regime.

Alvarez (83) was commander-in-chief of the army in the late 1970s and de facto president from 1980 until shortly before democracy was restored. He was accused in the disappearance of Uruguayan political prisoners seized in neighbouring Argentina, a claim he has always denied.

Prosecution lawyer Oscar Lopez Goldaracena called the ruling “a very important step in clarifying” Uruguay's past. Alvarez was detained by Uruguayan authorities in 2007 and has been in preventative detention since then.

Not in court for health reasons, at an earlier appearance he said he believed he would die in prison. His wife, Rosario Flores, charged the sentence was orchestrated for political purposes ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.

Navy Captain Juan Larcebeau was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for 29 homicides, relating to clandestine prisoner transfers in 1978.