CHONGQING - Three former policemen in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality were found guilty on Tuesday for torturing a suspect to extort confessions, a local court said.

Gou Hongbo, who served in the city's Changshou District Public Security Bureau, was sentenced to three years in prison with three years' reprieve for intentional injury, the Dadukou District People's Court of the city said in a statement.

Gou told his colleagues, Dan Bo and Zheng Xiaolin, to torture the suspect surnamed Lyu while investigating a case in July 2011, the statement said.

Dan received a jail term of two and half years with two and half years' reprieve for intentional injury, it said.

Zheng, who played a minor role in the case, was convicted of extorting confessions by torture and exempted from criminal penalty.

The court commuted or exempted their penalties as all of them had confessed their crimes and earned forgiveness from the victim, according to the statement.