The Koper District Court, where the trial started last October, established that Valon Hoxhaj was the ringleader, sentencing him to nine years and 10 months.
His brother Dibran Hoxhaj was only found guilty of smuggling illegal immigrants, for which he got one year in prison, while the court could not conclude he had taken over as the ringleader when Valon was arrested a few months earlier.
Ivica Guberac, a former captain of the Koper football club, and Bledni Imeri were acquitted.
Judge Tatjana Pavlovec explained it could not be established that Guberac had known the co-defendants were using his cellar to keep drugs.
"Since the start we have been trying to prove that I had nothing to do with this, that I didn't know what was going on behind my back," Guberac said today.
Arijan Loshi got six years and six months in prison, with the court already extending the custody for him and Valon.
Besim Imeri got five years, and Alen Duranović and Marko Cecelja each got four years, while Miha Zajelšnik has an option of serving his one-year prison sentence by doing community work.
Prosecutor Anja Štrovs is happy with the judgement as such, but disappointed with the low prison sentences for drug trafficking, which she said could be "mended" with an appeal.
She will decide whether to appeal against the rulings once she has studied them, including the not-guilty judgement for Guberac.
The police arrested the members of the ring from the Slovenian coast, known as Cobra, in the autumn of 2016.
The prosecutor filed charges against 16 individuals, but some of them pleaded guilty.
The nine defendants for which the trial ended today were accused of several criminals acts related to drug trafficking and smuggling of illegal immigrants.
The prosecution wanted them to be sent to prison for almost 59 years, Valon alone for 11 years and eight months.
The ruling is not yet final, meaning that both parties can still lodge appeals. However, Valon's lawyer is unlikely to do so, having already asked the court for his client to start serving the sentence immediately.
