Chinese Court Upholds Death Sentence for Woman Involved in Child Trafficking Case

A Chinese court has upheld the death sentence for Yu Huaying, a woman involved in a child trafficking case that has captured national attention. The court’s decision came after a re-trial revealed that Yu had sold 17 children, rather than the 11 previously established in the 2023 trial. This case first came to light in 2022 when Yang Niuhua, a victim of Yu’s trafficking, reported her ordeal to the police in Guiyang, located in China’s southwest.

Yang, who had been trafficked in 1995 for 3,500 yuan, shared her search for her family on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok. Eventually, she was reunited with her relatives through a DNA test, only to discover that both her parents had passed away a few years after her abduction in Guizhou province. Yang’s report led to Yu’s arrest, and she was present in court during Friday’s sentencing.

In addition to the death sentence, the court also stripped Yu of all political rights for life and ordered the confiscation of her property. The court stated that Yu’s “subjective malice is extremely deep, her criminal behavior is particularly heinous, and the consequences of her actions are severe, warranting harsh punishment. Although she confessed, this is insufficient to justify a lighter sentence.”

According to state media reports, Yu’s first victim was her own son, whom she sold for 5,000 yuan when she was in her 20s. Gong Xianliang, the boy’s father, later became Yu’s accomplice in child trafficking. Gong passed away after Yu’s arrest. Another victim, Luo Xingzhen, shared her two-decade-long wait for her children to return to their family’s shoe repair stall, the same location where they were taken.

The court described Yu’s actions as building a “complete criminal chain” of child trafficking. She would find children in Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, as well as the municipality of Chongqing in the south, and sell them to intermediaries in Hebei province in the north. Yu had previously been detained for two months in 2000 for child abduction and was later sentenced to eight years in prison in 2004 for a similar offense.

Human trafficking has long been a concern in China, and cases like this draw public outrage when exposed. The article also highlights the cultural preference for male children during China’s one-child policy, which led to the trafficking of unwanted baby girls.