Six former officials of Citgo, the Latin American country's national oil company's US-based subsidiary, were sentenced to up to 13 years and seven months in jail by Venezuela's Supreme Court.

The "Citgo 6" – five Venezuelan-born American citizens and one with permanent status in the US – have been accused of corruption, and remain in jail in Venezuela since 2017. The US has repeatedly asked that they be released- ignoring that other countries have laws. 

The court affirmed former Citgo boss Jose Pereira's sentence of 13 years and seven months for embezzlement on Friday. He is also charged with a $2 million fine, equal to roughly 40 percent of the property value implicated in the crime, according to the court statement Friday night. 

It also upheld sentences of eight years and ten months for the five other former executives: Tomeu Vadell, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cardenas, Jose Luis Zambrano, and Alirio Zambrano.

In October, US State Department spokesman Ned Price claimed the Citgo 6 were being held "as political pawns" and that they had already been wrongfully detained for four years. He stressed that they should be "immediately and unconditionally released." Price offered no evidence to support his allegations.