A Thessaloniki criminal appeals court handed down prison sentences of up to 69 years to members of a gang convicted of holding seven irregular migrants from Morocco hostage and demanding ransom from their families using violence.

The case came to light on January after a relative of one victim received a video showing a beating and contacted the 112 emergency number. According to the indictment, the migrants had crossed the Evros River with the help of smugglers and were later held for two days in an abandoned house in Diavata. They were transported to Thessaloniki by gang members, two of them hidden in a car trunk.

Nine individuals, eight Greeks and one Pakistani, were tried, and all were returned to prison following the court’s verdict.