The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday found five people guilty on charges of human trafficking.

The court sentenced two Chinese men and three Cambodian women to two years behind bars for attempting to traffic seven Cambodian girls hailing from Kampong Cham, Kratie and Prey Veng provinces, two of them under the age of 16. They were being brought to China for forced marriages.

The court also ordered the guilty party to jointly pay a total of 37 million riel (about $9,250) in compensation to the seven victims and case plaintiffs.

Svay Tonh, the judge presiding over the case, said that along with the human-trafficking charges, the bi-national group were also charged with “providing dishonest documents” – they were found with fake passports when arrested by anti-human trafficking police in February 2014.