Woman carrying baby appears in court for leading women to sell fetuses

One day at the end of February, Moong Thi Ly (born in 1983), residing in Huu Kiem commune, Ky Son district, carried her 7-month-old baby to the People's Court of Nghe An province to attend the trial for "Organizing others to flee abroad". The two remaining accomplices are Moong Thi Ba (born in 1967), Xeo Thi Tien (born in 1982), residing in Huu Lap commune, Ky Son district.

Having just gone through a long journey to court with his mother, the baby looked quite tired and cried loudly. Ly frantically comforted him, then found a secluded corner to breastfeed him. After being full of milk, the baby fell asleep in his mother’s sling. When it was time for the court to start, Ly asked a relative to accompany her to hold the baby for the court appearance.

According to the records, around March 2018, Moong Thi Oanh (born in 1987, residing in Huu Lap commune) was living in China, returned to Vietnam to visit her family. Oanh saw that Ms. Th. (in the same village) was pregnant, so she discussed with her mother, Moong Thi Ba, to persuade her to go to China to sell her unborn child. If she agreed, Oanh would pay Th. 60 million VND, and Ms. Ba would receive 10 million VND from her daughter.

Three defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

At her daughter's suggestion, Mrs. Ba went to Ms. Th.'s house to talk about selling her child. After three attempts of persuasion, Ms. Th. agreed to go to China to give birth and sell her child. Oanh took the pregnant woman to China through an unofficial route and took care of her for two months until she gave birth. When the child was 20 days old, Oanh sold it to an infertile family for 45,000 yuan (about 50 million VND). Oanh took Ms. Th. back to Vietnam and paid her 4 million VND and paid Mrs. Ba 1 million VND.

In August 2018, through the social network Zalo, Tien and Oanh got to know each other and discussed taking pregnant women to China to give birth and sell their babies. Moong Thi L. (born in 1992, residing in Chieu Luu commune) discussed and her husband agreed to sell the fetus. With Tien's guidance, L. was taken by her husband to the national highway and took a bus with Tien to China to meet Oanh to wait for the baby to be born and then sell it. During this time, through Moong Thi Ly, Oanh also agreed to take Moong Thi M. (born in 1994) to China to sell her baby for 250,000 yuan.

When the two girls Moong Thi L. and Moong Thi M. arrived in China, they came to Oanh's house to live while waiting to give birth. On September 20, 2018, Oanh and her husband took Ms. M. and L. to a pregnancy check-up. On the way back, the group got into a traffic accident that caused the pregnant woman Moong Thi L. to die. Moong Thi Oanh, Moong Thi Ly, Xeo Thi Tien and Ms. Moong Thi M. were injured and taken to the hospital for emergency treatment.

During her treatment at the hospital, Ms. M. gave birth. In early 2019, when Oanh, Ly, Tien and Ms. M. were discovered to have entered China illegally, the authorities of that country deported them back to Vietnam.

Later, Nghe An police discovered the incident and arrested those involved. However, Moong Thi Oanh quickly fled the area and was wanted by the provincial authorities. Moong Thi Ba, Xeo Thi Tien, and Moong Thi Ly were prosecuted for the crime of "Organizing others to flee abroad".

The mother was in court so the 7-month-old baby was held by relatives in the hallway. Photo: Tran Vu

In the witness stand, Moong Thi Ly and Moong Thi Ba admitted to all their crimes. Both said that due to their limited legal awareness, they made mistakes. Defendant Xeo Thi Tien still denied the crime. Tien said that Moong Thi L. voluntarily went to China to sell her child and was not persuaded by him. The defendant admitted that she only “helped” the pregnant woman go to China.

During the trial, defendant Ly looked down several times because she heard a baby crying in the hallway. Her husband did not follow her down, so she had to ask a friend to hold her baby. Being a stranger and hungry, the baby often cried. While the court was debating, the defendant quickly ran to hold the baby. Seeing her mother again, the baby was overjoyed and smiled from afar.

The defendant said he was very remorseful for his actions, especially after being analyzed by the officers, he became more aware of his wrongdoings. While holding his young child, Ly confided that he hoped to receive a light sentence so that he would have a chance to start his life over and take care of his child.

For the crime of “Organizing others to flee abroad”, Moong Thi Ly was sentenced to 12 months in prison. The two remaining defendants, Moong Thi Ba and Xeo Thi Tien, were each sentenced to 18 months in prison for the above crime.

Because he was raising a young child, Ly was allowed to return to his hometown, awaiting the day of execution. Carrying his young child on his chest, Ly carried his bag of belongings and left the court to catch the bus back to Western Nghe An. If Ly’s young child was only about to be separated from his mother for a short time, the innocent children in this case might not have the chance to see their relatives and blood relatives again…