Amish sect leader Samuel Mullet Sr. was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday over a series of hair and beard-cutting attacks that prosecutors linked to religious intolerance and hate crimes.

Mullet, 67 was sentenced in Federal District Court in Cleveland. His 15 followers (9 men and 6 women) were also sentenced today with punishments between one day to seven years in prison, according to the New York Times.

"The victims were terrorized and traumatized," U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster said, according to the Associated Press.

"Each of you has received the benefits of that First Amendment," he added.

The judge said the defendants had violated the constitutional rights protecting religious practice, according to the Associated Press.

Prosecutors had asked for life sentence for Mullet.

Mullet and his followers were convicted on multiple counts of conspiracy and kidnapping for attacks against other Amish religious leaders. Prosecutors claim the attacks were motivated by religious disputes.

A wave of fear spread throughout Amish groups in Ohio in 2011. Mullet's followers reportedly broke into homes and cut the hair of women and beard of men by force, two symbols of Amish people's religious devotion. HE was not present at any of the attacks but prosecutors accused him of encouraging and orchestrating them.

Mullet's attorneys claimed that the assaults were not religous-related but the result of family or financial disputes.