Three Chinese women have been given a suspended prison sentence and fined €100 each after they admitted to running a Balzan massage parlour as a brothel over the last few months.

Liu Renhua, 42, Yu Yali, 43, and Qin Weihong, 42, all from Attard, were sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for three years, after evidence in the case was heard behind closed doors before Magistrate Saviour Demicoli.

The request for the ban on proceedings was made by Police Inspector Louise Calleja on moral grounds.

The massage parlour on Valley Road, named Honey Girl, advertises itself as a beauty salon specialising in nail art and massages as well as offering slimming courses. The woman who manages the shop, Lin Han, 32, also from Attard, is also undergoing criminal proceedings and is pleading not guilty to running the premises as a brothel and to living off the earnings of prostitution. A 53-year-old Tarxien man, whose name cannot be divulgedby court order, is facing similar charges.