A Chinese court recently imprisoned six people in a
high-profile human trafficking case that horrified the country when surfaced
last year and triggered an intense crackdown on bride trafficking.
While the woman's husband Dong Zhimin was imprisoned for
nine years for torture, abuse, and forcefully keeping her captive, five others
received jail terms ranging from eight to 13 years. But scores of people have
expressed displeasure towards the verdicts passed on Friday, saying the prison
sentences weren't long enough and reforms were still lacking.
Xiaohuamei was found chained in a remote village last year.
Her plight came under the limelight when a Chinese vlogger shot a video of her
living in a dirt-floor hut outside her family home with an iron chain around
her neck and posted it online, voicing trafficking concerns.
The video went viral, seizing the attention of scores of
people across the country, many of whom campaigned relentlessly online
demanding justice for Xiaohuamei.
The local town authorities initially rejected trafficking
concerns, stressing the couple just had marital troubles. They also repeated
her husband's defence that he had kept Xiaohuamei captive because she had
schizophrenia and was vulnerable to violent fits.
But such statements only infuriated the public more. Many
netizens started criticising authorities for turning a blind eye to the woman's
treatment and potentially to that of other victims of human trafficking. A
criminal investigation was eventually launched.
It was found at the court trial this week that Xiaohuameiwas abducted as a teenager in 1998 and sold to a farmer for $600 at the time.
Just a year later, she was again sold to a couple, who arranged her sale to
Dong's father.
The woman was "able to take care of herself and
communicate with others" when she first arrived at her husband's house,
the judges said. The court found Dong forced her to have children - the first
in 1999 and seven others from 2011 to 2020.
Xiaohuamei's schizophrenia worsened after her third child.
The presiding judge, Yao Hui, said Dong had never taken her for medical
treatment when she was sick, and had repeatedly got her pregnant regardless of
her condition.
While the majority of netizens have expressed anger and
disappointment over the verdicts, some highlighted how sentences for criminals
involved in trafficking are typically capped at 10 years. Activists have long
been pushing for legal reform, stressing such short prison sentences weren't
bringing the desired impact.
Currently, Xiaohuamei is staying in a medical ward after
being removed from her village in 2022 when her case came under the spotlight,
Chinese media said.
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