CHANGSHA - Three public officials were each sentenced to 20 months in jail for illegally wiretapping a county Communist Party chief of Central China's Hunan province, according to a local court ruling on Tuesday.

Li Yi, an official with the supervision office of the Mayang Miao Autonomous County Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Yang Fan, a Mayang court officer and Liu Yang, a police officer, were guilty of illegal wiretapping and secretly filming a county Party chief, according to the ruling of the district people's court of Hecheng, Huaihua City, which administers Mayang County.

They were guilty of placing hidden cameras in the office of Hu Jiawu, secretary of the CPC Mayang Miao Autonomous County Committee, spying on Hu and storing video footage on a removable disk between March 13 and October 2 in 2012. They used the footage to try and blackmail Hu for promotion, according to the ruling.

They installed spy gadgets on a water dispenser, according to earlier media reports.

Hu reported the matter to the police, who arrested the three suspects.

The three defendants said they would appeal to the Huaihua Intermediate People's Court.