New Delhi ? Seven former employees of the Union Carbide Corp. were found guilty Monday of “death by negligence” and “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” for their role in the Bhopal gas tragedy, which claimed more than 15,000 lives a quarter-century ago.

The former officials, all from India, were sentenced to two years in prison and fined more than $2,200 each.

Survivors and victims groups immediately blasted the verdict and sentence as “too little, too late,” and the Indian government banned protesters from entering the court grounds in an effort to avoid confrontation.