A forensic expert, three police officers and a music impresario have been jailed for covering up the 2015 murder of Venezuelan rapper Canserbero.
Canserbero, named the best Spanish-speaking rapper by Rolling Stone magazine, was drugged and stabbed to death by his manager Natalia Améstica.
Améstica and her brother then threw his body out of a 10th floor window.
The five people convicted Tuesday were found guilty of helping the siblings stage the crime scene so that Canserbero's murder appeared to be a suicide.
They were given prison sentences of between 15 and 20 years.
Natalia Améstica and her brother Guillermo were sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder in February.
The death of Canserbero, whose real name was Tirone González, on January 19, 2015 shocked the Venezuelan rap scene.
It was said at the time that the 26-year-old star killed his friend Carlos Molnar in a stabbing before jumping out of a window.
But in December 2023, Natalia Améstica confessed to stabbing both Molnar and Canserbero.
In a video statement released last year by the Venezuelan attorney general, she recounted what happened that night.
Natalia Améstica claims she was angry with the rapper after learning that Canserbero no longer wanted her as his manager.
She described how Canserbero came to her apartment in the Venezuelan city of Maracay on January 19, 2015.
He was accompanied by his friend Carlos Molnar, who was also Natalia Améstica's long-time friend.
“The chance arose to make them some tea,” she explained in the video, adding that she had mixed a strong sedative into her drink.
When her drugged partner Carlos Molnar entered the kitchen, she stabbed him in the neck, back and arm.
Canserbero witnessed Améstica's attack on her boyfriend, but under the influence of the drugs Améstica had given him, he collapsed on the sofa.
Améstica then stabbed him twice.
“In desperation, I then called my brother Guillermo to help me resolve the situation,” she said in the video confession.
Her brother came with the three Venezuelan secret service officers Sebin, who have since been convicted.
“They arranged the scene to look like a murder-suicide,” said Natalia Améstica.
She said the officers “stabbed Carlos.” [Molnar] a few more times, my brother Guillermo stabbed him four times. The Sebin officials did the rest.”
“We were then told how to throw him out the window to complete the murder-suicide scene,” she said in her confession.
Her brother Guillermo said a forensic detective who arrived at the scene became suspicious and remarked that it looked “rigged.”
According to Guillermo Améstica, the forensic expert demanded a $10,000 (£7,880) bribe in exchange for helping the siblings cover up the crime and make it appear as if Canserbero had attacked Molnar before he jumped out of the window.
The fifth man sentenced Tuesday is Marcos Pratolongo, a music impresario who provided security at some of Canserbero's concerts.
At the time of his arrest, Venezuela's attorney general said Pratolongo was in possession of the keys to Canserbero's apartment, from which important evidence had disappeared.
The attorney general posted on social media Tuesday that Pratolongo had been found guilty of complicity in Canserbero's killing, but gave no further details about his role in the crime.
