China jailed a man nine years for abusing a mother of eight children who was found chained in a doorless hut — a scandal that stunned the Asian nation and prompted discussion of women’s rights.
(Bloomberg) — China jailed a man nine years for abusing a mother of eight children who was found chained in a doorless hut — a scandal that stunned the Asian nation and prompted discussion of women’s rights.
Dong Zhimin, the 56-year-old husband of the woman identified only as Xiaohuamei, received the sentence after being found guilty on charges of abuse and unlawful detention, a court in the eastern city of Xuzhou said in a statement on social media Friday.
The court described Dong’s behavior as “heinous” and said his “abusive practices led to major damage to Xiaohuamei’s health.” Another five people received prison terms ranging from eight to 13 years for trafficking women.
Public anger over the mother’s treatment erupted in January last year when a video appeared online, prompting discussion over the plight of trafficked women and the limited rights of women in rural areas. Many people focused their ire on local officials, whose early statements seemed to play down the woman’s ordeal.
Read: Chinese Women Found Their Voice in 2022. Is Anyone Listening?
The episode threatened to mar the Winter Olympics in Beijing. That prompted the state broadcaster, China Central Television, to vow that officials would “find the truth, punish those who violated laws, hold those involved accountable and release the results to the public in a timely manner.”
China later fired or punished several lower-level officials, and the government of Jiangsu province pledged to “severely crack down on crimes related to trafficking women and children.”
The Chinese public’s interest in the case remains intense. Discussion about the sentences handed down Friday became a top topic on the Weibo social media website, attracting some 500 million views in a few hours.
Many people questioned whether the husband’s prison term was too short considering the harm he’d done to her.
The court in Xuzhou heard that Xiaohuamei, who state media has indicated is around 46 years old, was sold three times starting in 1998. She had a son in 1999 and seven more with Dong from 2011 to 2020.
Though she began to develop worsening signs of mental illness over that decade, Dong failed to take her for treatment. He started chaining her up in July 2017, the court found, and she was left in the cold without food or water at times.
Dong wasn’t charged with buying a trafficked woman because the five-year statute of limitations expired, the official Xinhua News Agency said in Q&A document published Friday.
Prosecutors did try the other five people even though the 20-year limit for trying a person accused of selling a person had passed. Xinhua said that was made legally possible because the country’s top prosecutor gave special permission.
Xiaohuamei hasn’t made any public appearances since she was taken to the hospital last year. A former lawyer said in a Weibo post in January this year that locals barred him from entering the village where she was found.
Xiaohuamei’s condition has improved as she’s been treated, according to Xinhua, which didn’t interview her or provide any photographs of the woman.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.