CAIRO, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian criminal court sentenced on Monday three police officers to three years in prison for beating to death a citizen inside a police station in Upper Egypt's Sohag governorate in 2016.

The court sentenced the head of the Tahta police station's investigations unit, the unit's deputy and the chief of the inspection unit of northern Sohag to three years in jail, state-run Ahram Online news website reported.

The court also sentenced a Sohag Health Department employee to one year in prison and relieved him of duty for two years for forging the medical report of the victim.

The verdict can still be appealed.

The case dates back to 2016, when the defendants were referred to criminal court over charges of beating the victim to death in an attempt to coerce a confession in a murder case.