Two men in eastern China have been imprisoned for organizing homosexual prostitution, a local court official said Wednesday.

The men, surnamed Xiao and Liu, had hired eight young men to offer sexual services to gay men from October to November 2008 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, said Sun Xia, a spokeswoman for the Pingjiang District People's Court in Suzhou.

Xiao and Liu had drawn customers through the Internet, Sun said.

The eight sex workers were not gay themselves, but they had wanted to make money, she said.

They were ordered to turn in 30 percent of their earnings to Xiao and Liu for every client, she said.

The prostitution ring was discovered late November 2008 when police investigated a robbery involving one of Xiao's sex workers, she said.

Xiao, 27, from eastern Jiangxi Province, had himself offered sexual services for gay men in bars before organizing the prostitution ring in Suzhou, she said.

Xiao was sentenced to seven years in jail and fined 30,000 yuan (4,412 U.S. dollars), and Liu was sentenced to two years and nine months and fined 10,000 yuan, she said.