April 9, 2023, 18:36 PM
April 9, 2023, 18:36 PM
A Chinese court has jailed six people in the high-profile case of a woman found chained up in a remote village last year.
The case shocked the country and led to a crackdown on human trafficking.
The woman’s husband was sentenced to nine years in prison for torture, ill-treatment and keep her captive. Five other people were sentenced to terms of between eight and 13 years.
But many of those who reacted to the verdict on Friday said that the sentences are too light and still missingtono reforms.
Xiaohuamei’s plight came to light in January 2022, when a Chinese vlogger found her living in a dirt hut outside her family home in the village near Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, with an iron chain around her neck. .
The video of the vlogger from Fengxian County went viral. In it, she expressed her concern about human trafficking and pointed out that Xiaohuamei, in her 40s, had fathered eight children and looked “stunned” and mentally disabled.
The case captured the attention of Chinese public opinion. Many internet users campaigned relentlessly for justice for the woman.
In the first moment, local authorities dismissed trafficking issuesclaiming that the couple had a legitimate marriage certificate and that they only had marital problems.
The authorities also repeated the argument of her husband, Dong Zhimin, who claimed that he had locked up Xiaohuamei because she suffered from schizophrenia and was prone to violent attacks.
However, such statements only fueled public outrage.
Criticism was sharpened by many online that authorities had turned a blind eye to the treatment of the woman, and potentially other victims.
A criminal investigation was opened and the police vowed to crack down on trafficking in women and children.
Torture and ill-treatment
Many details of the case were confirmed for the first time this week during the trial.
The court determined that xiaohuamei was kidnapped, as a teenager, in his home province of Yunnan in 1998 and sold to a farmer in Donghai province for 5,000 yuan, about US$600 at the time.
A year later she was sold again to other traffickers, this time a couple, who organized her sale to Dong’s father.
According to the judges, when he arrived at Dong’s house, Xiaohuamei was “basically capable of taking care of herself and communicating with others”.
Dong eitherforced Xiaohuamei to have children: the first in 1999 and then seven more from 2011 to 2020.
After their third child, Xiao’s schizophrenia worsened. In response, Dong became more abusive, the Intermediate People’s Court in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu province said.
In 2017, he took her out of the family home and moved her to an outdoor cabin, where he kept her tied up with cloth ropes and chains. The cabin had no water, electricity or light and often denied him food.
Yao Hui, the presiding judge, stated that Dong had never taken his wife to the doctor when she was ill, and had repeatedly impregnated her despite her condition.
They demand to change the law
On Friday, news of the sentences spread via the Weibo social media platform, where it received more than 100 million views in the first hour of the verdict.
Most users expressed their anger and disappointment at the sentences. “So little for ruining someone’s life?” wrote one user.
Other people’s comments included “it’s his whole life, but only nine years for him” and “nine years is not long enough for her to give birth eight times.”
However, others noted that sentences for trafficking offenses are typically limited to 10 years.
Last year, activists pushed for reform of the legislation, arguing that such light penalties do not deterin to the bridal market of traffickers and buyers.
“Change the law, the sentence is too light,” one user wrote in the online discussion on Friday.
Some also asked about Xiaohuamei’s current status.
Last year, after learning about her case, she was expelled from her town and transferred to a medical center, where she remains hospitalized, according to the Chinese media.
* Additional reporting by Fan Wang
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