N'DJAMENA, Chad -- A Chadian court sentenced six French aid workers to eight years of forced labor Wednesday after finding them guilty of trying to kidnap 103 African children and bring them to Europe.

The sentence was announced on the fourth day of the trial. The defendants, who work for the French aid group Zoe's Ark, maintain they were driven by compassion to help orphans in Darfur, which borders Chad. An uprising that flared in Darfur in 2003 has led to the deaths of more than 200,000 people and forced 2.5 million to flee.