Woman was sold to China twice by people in the same commune

On the afternoon of March 15, after 3 days of deliberation, the People's Court of Nghe An province sentenced Luong Thi Ly (born 1985) and Lo Thi Ha (born 1988), both residing in Cam Muon commune, Que Phong district, for the crimes of "Trafficking in children" and "Trafficking in people".

According to the indictment, in November 2014, Luong Thi Ly lured Luong Thi H. (born 2000, residing in the same commune) to marry a Chinese man and then handed the victim over to Lo Thi Ha (at that time married and living in China).

Lo Thi Ha (outside) and Luong Thi Ly at the trial. Photo: Nhu Binh

Ha asked an acquaintance to sell H. to a Chinese man for 150 million. After selling the victim, Ha sent Ly 79 million, of which 70 million was given to H.'s family, and the remaining 7 million was Ly's salary, but Ly only gave 50 million to the victim's mother.

In January 2016, Luong Thi H. escaped back to Vietnam. A month later, Ly continued to invite H. to go to China to get married. This time, Ly said he would only come to get married for 1 month and then return and promised to pay H.'s family 100 million VND. Luong Thi H. agreed.

Ly continued to take the victim to Mong Cai border gate (Quang Ninh) and handed her over to Ha. Ha sold Luong Thi H. for 240 million VND. Ha sent Ly 100 million VND to pay H.'s family as previously promised, but Ly only gave the victim's family 80 million VND.

After being sold to a Chinese man for 3 months, Luong Thi H. contacted Lo Thi Ha to return to Vietnam. However, Ha did not take H. back to Vietnam as previously agreed, but continued to sell the victim to another Chinese man. Realizing that she had been tricked, H. tried to escape and went to the Chinese police for help. In March 2018, the Chinese police returned H. to Vietnam.

The investigation agency determined that there was no basis to determine that Lo Thi Ha sold Luong Thi H. for the third time as the victim reported.

Previously, on July 23, 2018, Lo Thi Ha was sentenced to 4 years in prison by the People's Court of Nghe An province for "Human trafficking" in a criminal case.

Considering the role and position of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Lo Thi Ha to 10 years in prison for “Trafficking in children”, 5 years in prison for “Trafficking in humans”, combined with the 4-year prison sentence that has not been executed, defendant Ha must serve a sentence of 19 years in prison. Defendant Luong Thi Ly was sentenced to 7 years in prison for “Trafficking in children”, 3 years in prison for “Trafficking in humans”, the total sentence is 10 years in prison.