Eight people were convicted and two were acquitted by the Crotone court in Italy's southern province of Calabria after a trial that started after an operation named Ikaros.

Lawyers, cultural mediators and policemen were all put on trial on charges of being part of a criminal association facilitating the entrance of non-EU nationals into Italy through a system of fake stay permits.

The sentence upheld the requests of prosecutor Alessandro Rho.

Operation Ikaros by the Crotone flying squad on February 2021 discovered a system of stay permits obtained through a complex system of falsifications.

Lawyers sentenced to up to 10 years and 2 months in jail

The heaviest sentence -- due to the high number of charges, 94 -- was handed down to the lawyer Salvatore A. F., who will have to spend 10 years and 2 months in jail.

Three other lawyers involved were also sentenced to four to five years in jail each. A local policeman was given nine months in jail but with a suspended sentence.

Four cultural mediators and migrants who had acted as go-betweens for others from their home countries also stood trial and were handed prison sentences ranging from six months to six years.

One cultural mediator as well as a policeman from the immigration office of the Crotone police station were acquitted for not having committed the crime.

Two international criminal organizations involved

Ikaros had in 2021 brought to light what was dubbed the "Crotone system", fostered by a reputation for the possibility to get stay permits in exchange for money.

According to what emerged from an investigation between 2017 and 2020, there were two international criminal organizations that produced fake documents and certificates to enable the issuance of stay permits in Italy for asylum seekers, most of whom Iraqi nationals of Kurdish ethnicity, who did not have a right to asylum.

The lawyers arrested were the ones to create fake documents for those requesting fake residencies and inexistent employment in order to get stay permits ensuring them international protection and freedom of movement across Italy and Europe.

Once the proceedings had been initiated, the person involved -- who was in their home country -- was notified that a date had been set for the procedure and arrived in Italy via plane with a tourist visa. Once the permit had been issued, they then re-entered the country from which they had requested protection.