BUCHAREST -- A Romanian court handed down sentences for 13 people for the 2015 fire in a Bucharest nightclub that killed 65 people and sparked massive protests.
The Bucharest Municipal Court on December 16 sentenced the three owners of the Colectiv club to 11 years and 8 months each in prison for allowing safety failures that led to the blaze.
The club caught fire on October 30, 2015, during a rock show that included fireworks.
The court gave three people from the company that supplied the fireworks between 10 and 12 years in prison.
A Bucharest city official and fire inspectors who said the club was safe just days before the fire also received prison sentences.
The death toll from the fire, and the revelations of official negligence, sparked massive protests against corruption, and led to the resignation of the then-Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
Defense lawyers for the club owners and the others sentenced were expected to appeal the court's ruling.
