'Sentence upon sentence' for luring women to work for a company and then tricking them into selling them abroad

Invite to work for the company and then sell

Born into a poor family, with a life of poverty, for Luong Thi U. (born in 1995), residing in Bao Nam commune, Ky Son district, finding a stable job is a blessing. However, her legitimate wish is difficult to fulfill, because finding a job in the mountainous area is not easy. Therefore, U. mainly stays in the village, helping her parents with odd jobs.

Until one day at the end of 2016, after meeting a man named Lo Van Duc (born in 1990), residing in Huu Lap commune, Ky Son district, U. secretly rejoiced, thinking that from now on her life would change. However, this girl did not know that the man who promised to find her a stable job in the South was a scammer. Duc was a link in the chain of sending women to China for sale led by Cut Thi Tu (born in 1993), residing in Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district.

Tu had been to China to get married, so he knew the need for women to be wives of some men there. Therefore, on a trip back to Vietnam, Tu met and discussed with Duc about finding women to sell in China. The two sides agreed that "if the woman is beautiful, the salary will be 20 million VND, if the woman is ugly, the salary will be 10 million VND".

After that meeting, Duc repeatedly looked for “prey” and U. was the target that this man aimed at. To carry out his fraudulent act, in December 2016, Duc met Ms. U. and said that he could take people to work for a company in Ho Chi Minh City. With the promise of a stable job and attractive salary, Ms. U. immediately nodded in agreement.
A few days later, Duc took Ms. U. to Mong Cai City (Quang Ninh). At this time, Duc told the girl that he was going to China to get married and would pay the family 100 million VND. Because there was no other way, Ms. U. agreed to follow Duc to the other side of the border.

After arriving in a foreign country, Tu took Ms. U. to live with her husband. About a week later, Tu sold the victim to a Chinese man to marry for 165 million VND. From that amount, Tu gave Duc 150 million VND to send to Ms. U.'s relatives. However, Duc only gave Ms. U.'s father 70 million VND, and spent the rest on personal expenses.

As for the victim, after a period of being a foreign wife, Ms. U. fled back to Vietnam. On February 8, 2023, the victim filed a complaint about Lo Van Duc's behavior with the police. Based on the criminal complaint, the police arrested Lo Van Duc and Cut Thi Tu to investigate human trafficking. It is worth noting that at this time, Tu was serving a prison sentence for "Human trafficking".

Confession of a woman who "condemned cases upon cases"

To attend the trial of the “Human Trafficking” case, the authorities extracted Cut Thi Tu from Prison No. 6 - Ministry of Public Security, to the People's Court of Nghe An province. Because this defendant is serving an 8-year prison sentence for the crime of “Human Trafficking” according to the court's verdict after the trial took place in 2021.

At the trial, Tu and defendant Lo Van Duc admitted to their crimes. Defendant Duc said that Tu "ordered" her to find women to sell to China. Cut Thi Tu received 15 million VND from the sale of the victims, and Duc took 80 million VND for personal expenses. When asked by a representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province about not proactively reporting the act of selling LTU in the case that was brought to trial earlier in order to have the opportunity to receive a lower sentence, Cut Thi Tu said she did not remember.

Before being caught up in the law, Cut Thi Tu was married and lived in China. Although she knew that the act of selling women to China as wives was a violation of the law, this defendant still did it. It is worth mentioning that Tu had committed the act of tricking and selling women to foreign countries twice. This act caused many victims to live miserable and humiliating lives in foreign lands.

Attending the trial, the victim recounted her miserable life when she was sold to be the wife of a man she did not know. Ms. U. explained that she agreed because she heard the defendant Duc say he was going to work for a company. When she was almost at the other side of the border, she realized she had been tricked, but at that moment she could not turn around and run away.

Talking about her life in a foreign country, Ms. U. said that there were many barriers from language, customs, lifestyle... that made her feel discouraged. However, because she did not know the language and did not know the way back, she had to endure silently. After a short time living together as husband and wife with a Chinese man, she gave birth to two children. Every day, she had to stay home to take care of her children and cook for her husband's family without being allowed to go out. The cramped and oppressive life made her think of running away. After a period of suffering, this woman had to leave her children behind to flee back to her country. Attending the trial, the victim requested the Trial Council to punish the defendants according to the law.

Faced with the verdict of the law, both defendants asked the court to consider reducing their sentences. Both defendants also apologized to the victim. Defendant Tu presented his difficult circumstances, with his husband and children currently in China and no one to visit him, and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence.

The panel of judges determined that the defendants’ actions were very serious, directly infringing on the freedom, honor, and dignity of citizens protected by law, negatively affecting the customs, traditions, and traditions of Vietnamese women, causing negative public opinion, affecting the local security and order situation, and causing anxiety among the masses. The defendants themselves are healthy people, with full criminal capacity, clearly aware that their actions were wrong, but for personal gain, they disregarded the law and intentionally committed crimes, so they need to be severely punished.

After considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the Trial Panel sentenced Cut Thi Tu to 6 years in prison, combined with the previous sentence, forcing this defendant to serve a 14-year prison sentence. Defendant Lo Van Duc was sentenced to 6 years in prison for the crime of “Human trafficking”.