Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Six men charged with the 2017 murder of an American tourist in Greece were convicted on a range of lesser charges by a Greek court on Thursday.

The six men were handed down sentences ranging from five to 15 years in prison for killing Bakari Henderson, a 22-year-old recent college graduate from Austin, Texas, who had been visiting Greece for work. Three other men implicated in the attack were cleared of all charges.


Henderson's parents were hoping for murder convictions and life sentences for all of the suspects.

"You should not be able to chase a man down and beat him to death and not go to jail," said Henderson's mother, Jill Henderson, according to CBS News.

Henderson, who was black, was at a bar in Laganas, Greece, in July 2017 when he was attacked by a group of men that consisted of seven Serbian nationals, one Greek and a British national of Serbian origin.

According to witnesses, the attack occurred after Henderson took a selfie with a female bartender and one of the men told her: "There are a lot of Serbs in the bar. Why are you talking to a black guy?"

That man then punched Henderson, who retaliated by hitting him over the head with a beer bottle. The group of nine men then attacked Henderson, who ran out of the bar. But the group chased him down, caught him in the street and beat him to death.

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Surveillance video showed the moment the attackers knocked Henderson to the ground and killed him.

"Bakari loved spending time with family and friends, traveling and meeting new people," Henderson's family said in a statement after his death last year. "Bakari was an inspiration to all he met. He loved life and lived it to the fullest."

Greek prosecutors are planning to appeal the verdict.