Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan. The three officials charged with criminal negligence leading to the deadly collapse of the Mahakam II Bridge here in November were on Wednesday convicted and sentenced to a year in jail.

The sentence handed down by the court in Tenggarong, the capital of Kutai Kartanegara district, was lighter than the 20 months that prosecutors had sought. The charges themselves carried a maximum sentence of five years.

The defendants – Setiono, the district official in charge of maintaining the suspension bridge; Yoyo Suryana, the official responsible for the maintenance funds; and Muhammad Syahrial Fahrurrozi, the engineering chief at Bukaka Teknik Utama, the company contracted to maintain the bridge – were all found guilty of criminal oversight leading to the deadly accident on Nov. 26 in which at least 24 people were killed.

Hasanudin Nasution, a lawyer for Setiono and Yoyo, both from the Kutai Kartanegara Public Works Office, called the trial unfair and said his clients would appeal the verdict.

"Why have the district head and the head of the public works office not been touched?" he asked after the hearing. "The district head wasn't even among the more than 60 witnesses questioned. What's going on here? I believe my clients were sacrificed for those higher up."

Relatives of those killed in the incident also expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict, but for a different reason.

"The length of the sentence is very disappointing," said one family member who declined to be identified. "This was a case of negligence, for which they should have gotten five years."

Twenty-four people were confirmed dead when the 10-year-old bridge over the Mahakam River collapsed. Fourteen remain missing and are presumed dead, while 39 people were injured.