Policeman punished for making detainees cook, serve, and clean at his wedding

The policeman was found given a 15-month suspended prison sentence for abuse of authority. (Representational image: Copilot)

An Argentine police officer who let four suspected criminals out of a holding cell to work as cooks, servers and cleaners at his wedding, was found guilty of abusing his office on Monday.

Last year, the officer freed the men to walk to and from the wedding venue about a block from the police station where they were being held, according to local news reports.

One of them was charged with roasting the lamb -- but it's unclear what the men were being held for, or whether they were convicted of any wrongdoing.

After the celebrations, the men returned freely to their holding cell, said El Diario de La Pampa.

"He was lucky none of them escaped," prosecutor Guillermo Sancho told the Infobae news site.

The policeman was found given a 15-month suspended prison sentence for abuse of authority.

In other recent prison-related incidents, a 20-year-old French prisoner who escaped two weeks ago in the luggage of his fellow inmate when he was released, was re-arrested near the eastern city of Lyon.

The man was arrested while emerging from a cellar in Corbas near Lyon, they said, adding that his fellow prisoner accomplice had not yet been arrested.

The prisoner was serving time for murder as part of a criminal gang and breaching a weapons law.

In a statement, the prison service had said that the prisoner "took advantage of the liberation of his fellow inmate to hide himself in his luggage and get out".

Another recent attempt at a prison break that made headlines was that of a Brazilian inmate who found himself literally stuck against a wall while trying to flee, according to The Metro. Alan Leandro da Silva, 32, was discovered trapped waist-deep in a hole at a prison in Rio Branco.

(With inputs from AFP)