According to court documents released on Tuesday, one of the police officers present at the death of George Floyd, who was strangled under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, was convicted of complicity in the murder, AFP reports.

Tou Thao held back panicked bystanders who tried to intervene as the 40-year-old black man lay dying on the ground. The former police officer has already been found guilty of “violating the civil rights” of George Floyd and sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

On Monday, a Hennepin County, Minnesota, court found him guilty of accessory to murder. His sentence is set for August 7.

Tou Tao “was an experienced Minneapolis police officer.” “He knew that immobilizing (the suspect) face down would result in death,” the judge said in his sentencing.

“Like the citizens present, Tao saw the life slowly leave Floyd’s body. However, he made the decision to take an active part in his death: he pushed away concerned bystanders and did not even allow off-duty Minneapolis firefighters to provide Floyd with the medical care he so desperately needed,” the court ruled.

George Floyd’s family said they were “grateful” for the verdict, “another measure of responsibility for his death,” according to his lawyers.

“Each of these legal actions further proves that police violence is illegal and punishable,” they added in a statement.

On May 25, 2020, police officer Derek Chauvin, an experienced Minneapolis police officer, knelt on the neck of an African-American man for nearly 10 minutes without moving, despite the intervention of shocked onlookers and the moans of George Floyd.

Two more policemen helped to detain him.

The scene, filmed and posted online, sparked mass protests against racism and police brutality in the US and elsewhere.

Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in a closely watched trial in Minnesota and sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.