The appeals court ordered harsher penalties in the case of the armed robbery staged on the collectors of a bank in front of a shopping center in Râșcani district of Chisinau in 2014. Over 40 bullets were then fired from a machine gun. The driver of the car died, while two collectors were hurt, IPN reports.

After firing over 40 bullets from the gun, the attackers abandoned their car and later set it on fire.

Initially, the culprits were sentenced to 13 to 24 years in jail, but the prosecution appealed the verdicts and the Chisinau Appeals Court sentenced two of these to life imprisonment, while the other two perpetrators to 25 years behind bars each. The four were also obliged to pay damages.

The Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases said the trial lasted long because the culprits tried to mislead the court by denying their blame and by providing artificial evidence.