Four Dutch firms and eight individuals have been fined and given community service sentences for helping build a controversial bridge from Russia to Crimea between 2014 and 2017.

The companies were fined a total of €160,000 while the eight people were ordered to spend between 20 and 60 hours carrying out community service projects. One company was also ordered to hand back the €71,000 it had earned on the project.

In 2017, local Gelderlander newspaper first reported about the Dutch work on the bridge, which went ahead despite international sanctions. One of those sanctions stated that Dutch firms should not be active in the area.

The companies clearly broke the sanctions, the prosecution department said, by providing pile drivers, power packs and other equipment, as well as technical support.

According to the Gelderlander, the cases against three other companies involved in the project still have to come to court. Two companies were cleared because of a lack of evidence.

The bridge has been attacked several times since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.