In the Netherlands, the prosecutor in the trial of nine people charged in connection with the death of fifty-eight illegal Chinese immigrants has demanded sentences of up to twenty years imprisonment against them.

The immigrants suffocated in the back of the Dutch-registered truck on its way to Britain last June.

The nine on trial are being variously charged with forgery, manslaughter, human trafficking and belonging to a criminal organisation, which is accused of repeatedly smuggling illegal immigrants from the Netherlands into Britain. Earlier this month, a British court sentenced the truck driver to fourteen years in prison for manslaughter.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service