Sentences of 19 to 141 years and fines of up to 620,000 euros were imposed by the Three-member Court of Criminal Appeals on 14 Pakistanis who were convicted of holding two Afghan immigrants hostage and demanding ransom from their relatives while threatening them with a hot iron.
They were found guilty of gang, promotion of illegal immigrants, extortion and other offences, on a case by case basis while five of the defendants were acquitted.
The victims did not attend the trial. A police officer in charge of the case testified as a prosecution witness.
The victims seem to have even suffered torture as some of the accused threatened to burn them with a hot iron.
The Pakistani team demanded a ransom of 2,000 euros for their release. They had sent the video of the torture to their relatives to force them to pay the money.