Jailed for selling fellow countrymen to foreign lands

The People's Court of Nghe An province has just opened a first-instance criminal trial to try Loc Thi Mai (49 years old), residing in Tam Dinh commune, Tuong Duong district, for the crime of "Human trafficking". The victim in the case is a married woman in difficult circumstances.

Mai and her late husband had two children together. However, when the children were still young, her husband passed away. Taking care of the children alone made Mai's life not very comfortable.

Defendant Loc Thi Mai. Photo: Tran Vu

In 2016, Mai decided to go to China to work. 2 years of working abroad helped Mai earn more money. Also from this trip abroad, Mai met a woman named Kim (from Nghe An, unknown background and specific address, currently living in China). During their meetings, this person whispered that if she could find women to sell in China, she would get 10 million VND. If they agreed to go, they would receive 60 million VND. Hearing about the large sum of money she would receive, Mai nodded in agreement.

In early December 2019, Loc Thi Mai returned to Vietnam for a few days and received a phone call from Lo Thi H. (born in 1993), residing in Luong Minh commune (Tuong Duong). H. was married, but her husband was addicted to drugs, making life difficult. H. herself did not have a stable job, so this woman always longed for a job. When she learned that Mai had lived in China for a while, this girl asked to be taken here to find a job.

However, Mai said that she would only go to China to get married. If H. committed to staying and being the wife of a man here for a full year, she would be sent there. Mai also promised to pay this girl 60 million VND if she agreed to go to China to get married. Knowing that she had to get married to go there, H. still nodded in agreement.

After that, Mai contacted Kim to discuss sending people to China to get married. Kim said that if she successfully sent people to China, she would pay Mai 10 million VND as promised. The two sides agreed that Kim would transfer Mai 5 million VND for travel expenses, including the 2 million VND that H. asked to advance. After discussing everything, Mai went to H.'s house to finalize the plan, time, and method of moving to China.

On December 9, 2019, Mai asked her lover to take her and H. by bus from Hoa Binh town (Tuong Duong) to Mong Cai (Quang Ninh) to cross the border into China. However, when the bus had just left Hoa Binh town, the two people were asked to stop by the Tuong Duong district police for inspection. Loc Thi Mai was arrested, while H. was returned to her family by the authorities and handed over to local authorities for management.

Standing before the witness stand, Loc Thi Mai admitted her crime and said that due to lack of knowledge of the law, she committed the crime. The defendant said that due to difficult circumstances, her husband had died a long time ago, when promised to pay for the work, out of greed, she agreed to take the victim to China.

The panel of judges determined that Loc Thi Mai’s actions were an attempted crime but had violated the health and honor of a woman protected by law. The court believed that it was necessary to impose a punishment that was sufficiently deterrent and preventative for human trafficking. However, in this case, the victim was also partly at fault for knowing that she was going to China to get married but still accepted. Although she requested to be tried in absentia, the victim also submitted a petition for a lighter sentence for the defendant. It is known that after returning to her hometown, H. became pregnant. Because she was close to giving birth, H. could not attend court.

For the crime of "Human trafficking", Loc Thi Mai was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Going to prison when she was already a grandmother was a valuable lesson for Mai, who accepted to help sell her fellow countrymen to the other side of the border for money./.

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