Six Chinese nationals were sentenced yesterday to between 15 and 25 years for kidnapping, while a seventh suspect was acquitted.

Judge Ros Piseth sentenced five of the accused – Dai Xiao, 35; Hue Wu Tong, 46; Li Xi Hua, 59; Xu Cheng, 41; and Wang Jie, 35 – to 15 years each as accomplices to the kidnapping and illegal confinement of three of their countrymen last year.

During a hearing in September, all of the accused admitted to being employed by a company that provided loans to people who lost at gambling. But they all denied having held three people for over four months due to a missed payment, saying they had no knowledge of the kidnapping.

Chu Qi Long, the alleged ringleader, was sentenced to 25 years in absentia, but has yet to be arrested.

Zhang Zheng Sheng, 41, was the only defendant set free. He was arrested at the home of Sai Min, the owner of the company where the suspects work, but claimed not to be an employee of the man.