U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that the United States "unequivocally condemns" a Venezuelan court's conviction of six former executives of U.S. refiner Citgo of corruption charges and called for them to be sent home.

"Having already spent over three years wrongfully detained in Venezuela on these specious charges, the majority of the time in horrific prison conditions, these six individuals should be immediately returned to the United States," Pompeo said of the six, who were sentenced on Thursday to more than five years of prison.