It is an important message for society that police are not above the law

Maria Luisa Mendonca, Global Justice

He was sentenced to 632 years, six years each for the victims and 20 years for five attempted murders, although under Brazilian law he will serve a maximum 30-year sentence.

Human rights groups welcomed the verdict, which they said would help end impunity for Brazil's notoriously violent police force.

Colonel Guimaraes, 58, was originally charged with 111 counts of murder, but prosecutors reduced the charges to 102, saying there was no evidence police had killed nine men found stabbed to death.

Carandiru is Latin America's largest prison

After sentencing, Colonel Guimaraes hugged his lawyers and was escorted from the Sao Paulo courtroom in tears.

He will be allowed to remain free while his defence mounts an appeal.

According to witnesses and a forensic expert at the trial, many of the inmates were shot execution-style or from outside their cells as they hid behind their bed mattresses for protection.

Many were found naked in an apparent sign of surrender.

Self-defence

Colonel Guimaraes insisted his troops had entered into a shootout with prisoners and fired back in self-defence.

"If our intention was to commit a massacre, then how come only 111 died?" he had said during the trial.

His lawyer, Vicente Cascione, told the jury his client did not commit any crime because the troops under his command were defending themselves.

"If you condemn this man, you will condemn all police officers who risk their lives every day combating crime," Mr Cascione said.

Worldwide criticism

The photographs of bloodied, naked corpses lined up in prison hallways drew criticism from around the world.

Riots commonly erupt in Carandiru and other jails

The dramatic outcome of the riot also put the spotlight on the squalid and overcrowded conditions in Brazil's prison system, where riots are an almost daily occurrence.

"In our opinion, it is an important message for society that police are not above the law," said Maria Luisa Mendonca of Global Justice, a human rights group, after hearing the verdict.

Colonel Guimaraes is the first of 84 police officers to be tried in connection with the massacre.

No trial dates have yet been set for the other defendants.