Two Australian hitmen sentenced to 16 years for shooting a compatriot in Bali over a debt dispute, with a third organiser jailed for 12 years.

DENPASAR: Two Australian hitmen were sentenced to 16 years in prison for shooting dead a compatriot over a debt dispute on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

A third man, convicted of organising the hit on Zivan Radmanovic at a tourist villa, was jailed for 12 years by a court in Denpasar.

Judge I Wayan Suarta found Mevlut Coskun, 23, and Paea-I-Middlemore Tupou, 27, guilty of premeditated murder and illegal gun possession.

Darcy Jenson, 27, was found guilty of “aiding and abetting” the crime by supplying weapons and planning the attack.

Prosecutors had sought sentences of 17 and 18 years for the men.

Radmanovic was killed when gunmen burst into his villa in Badung last June and opened fire.

A second man, 34-year-old Sanar Ghanim, was seriously injured in the attack.

The gunmen said they had been hired to collect a debt from Ghanim but refused to name their client.

Jenson was arrested at Jakarta’s airport while apparently trying to flee.

The other two managed to escape but were returned to Bali from Cambodia to stand trial.

Radmanovic’s wife and lawyer avoided the media after the verdict and left the court without commenting.

Gun crime is rare on the island of Bali and in wider Indonesia, which has strict laws for illegal gun possession.

 The Sun Malaysia