Erika Santelices, AFP | Archival picture shows French pilots Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos in court in the Dominican Republic on May 8, 2014

An appeals court in the Dominican Republic upheld 20-year prison sentences for two French pilots who fled the country last year after being snared in a cocaine smuggling case.

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Appeals court Judge Eduardo Sanchez turned down the appeal filed by lawyers for Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos, who were sentenced in absentia last month on drug trafficking charges.

Fauret and Odos were arrested in March 2013 as they were about to depart from Punta Cana in a private jet that was found to be carrying 1,500 pounds of cocaine.

Convicted of drug trafficking in August, they were released pending appeal but barred from leaving the country.

Somehow, they managed to flee the Caribbean country and return to France, vowing to clear their names.

They were arrested in November near the French city of Lyon.

(AFP)

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