Veracruz (Mexico), Apr 11 (IANS/EFE): The man convicted of killing Mexican journalist Regina Martinez has been sentenced to 38 years and two months in prison by a judge in the Gulf state of Veracruz.

Jorge Antonio Hernandez Silva will also have to pay a fine of 17,724 pesos ($1,461) and 81,473 pesos ($6,716) in restitution.

Regina Martinez was beaten and strangled in her house in Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz, April 27, 2012.

All the evidence pointed to Hernandez Silva being involved in the killing of Martinez, Proceso magazine's correspondent in Veracruz, the judge ruled.

Nine journalists have been murdered in Veracruz since December 2010, when Javier Duarte, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, became governor.

Photojournalists Gabriel Huge, Esteban Rodriguez and Guillermo Luna were killed May 3, 2012, in the port city of Veracruz.

Journalists Noel Lopez Olguin, Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz, Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco and Misael Lopez Solana were murdered in 2011.

Fourteen journalists were murdered during the 2006-12 administration of President Felipe Calderon, the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said in a recent report.

A total of 82 journalists have been murdered and 18 others have been reported missing since 2005 in Mexico, the Mexican National Human Rights Commission, or CNDH, said in a report released in December.

Some 658 complaints were received from members of the news media from Jan 1, 2005, to Nov 30, 2012, the rights body said.