Four villagers in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region were sentenced to 14 months in prison with hard labour Tuesday for their roles in a July 2018 protest against a Chinese cement factory, VOA reported.

The four residents of Aungthabyae village in Mandalay’s Patheingyi township were charged and convicted of Roads and Bridges Law offenses for blocking a road to prevent access by vehicles from the Myanmar company that was building the coal-powered cement factory with a Chinese partner.

Three of the four villagers sentenced on Tuesday had been detained in Mandalay’s Oh-Boe prison, while one of them, a 70-year-old woman named Aye, was out on bail and did not attend the court hearing. The Patheingyi township court has classified her as a fugitive, it said.