A Chinese court has upheld the death sentence of a woman convicted of trafficking over a dozen children in a 1990s case that shocked the nation.
Yu Huaying, 60, was found guilty earlier this year of trafficking at least 17 children between 1993 and 1996. On Thursday, the Guizhou Provincial High People’s Court rejected her appeal against the sentence, Xinhua reported.
It was Yu’s final appeal.
Her case will now be reported to the Supreme People’s Court for a review of the death penalty, CCTV News said. If approved, the sentence will be carried out.
Yu was found guilty of trafficking 11 children in 2023 but a retrial, which considered additional evidence, found that she sold 17 children.
In addition to awarding the death penalty, the trial court suspended all of Yu’s political rights for life and ordered the confiscation of her property.
The case only came to light in 2022 after one of the victims, Yang Niuhua, reported her to police in Guiyang. She said Yu had sold her for 3,500 yuan (now about £378) in 1995.
Ms Yang, now in her 30s, had begun a hunt for her family and documented her struggle on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Her parents had died a few years after she was kidnapped, she discovered, but found her relatives.
Yu’s first victim was her own son, whom she reportedly sold for 5,000 yuan (now £543) when she was in her 20s.
Her partner, Gong Xianliang, joined Yu in her dealings, but he didn’t face the trial as he died soon after her arrest.
Yu had a “complete criminal chain” of child trafficking and targeted children in Guizhou and Yunnan provinces and the Chongqing municipality in the south, the trial court said in October. She would sell the children through intermediaries in Hebei in the north.
“Yu Huaying’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,” the court said.
Human trafficking was a major problem in China for decades as a cultural preference for male children during the One Child Policy era led to the trafficking of girls.
