Current:Home > MyMan sentenced to prison for abuse of woman seen chained up in viral video that drew outcry in China-LoTradeCoin
Man sentenced to prison for abuse of woman seen chained up in viral video that drew outcry in China
View Date:2024-12-24 00:15:45
Beijing — A Chinese man on Friday was sentenced to nine years in prison for abusing and unlawfully detaining a woman who was shown chained in a viral video that sparked an outcry in China last year. The abuse of the woman, "Xiaohuamei," or Little Plum Blossom, raised widespread concerns in China in February last year and at times overshadowed Beijing's Winter Olympics online. Her story appeared in Chinese social media despite digital and human censors and prompted commentators to exhort national media to highlight the scandal.
After the announcement of the sentencing on Friday, the case became one of the most searched topics on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, with many people complaining that nine years imprisonment for the man was too lenient of a punishment for what he did to her.
The court in Xuzhou city that handed down the sentence said in a statement that Dong Zhimin and his late father bought Little Plum Blossom in the late 1990s for 5,000 yuan ($727) and that he had abused her in recent years by chaining her around the neck and tying her body with pieces of cloth and ropes. She suffered from hunger and lived in a place without water or electricity, it said. That was despite him fathering eight children with her.
"Dong Zhimin's abuse has caused serious harm to Little Plum Blossom's health. After examination, Little Plum Blossom was diagnosed with schizophrenia," the statement said.
The court also sentenced five others to prison for between eight and 13 years and fined them for trafficking her decades ago.
According to an investigation, Little Plum Blossom was first brought to Jiangsu province on China's eastern coast from southwestern Yunnan province after she was abducted by two of the five people in early 1998. They sold her to a farmer for 5,000 yuan ($727).
After living with the farmer for a while, the woman went missing and was found by a couple in Henan province in central China in June 1998. The couple then sold her to two others for 3,000 yuan ($436) and that pair subsequently sold her for 5,000 yuan ($727) to the Dongs in Feng county in Jiangsu.
The wife of the couple was not charged because the impact of her role was considered relatively minor, the court said, but her husband and the pair who sold Little Plum Blossom to Dong were among the five who were charged and sentenced for trafficking her.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted Little Plum Blossom's doctor in a report saying she was still being treated in a hospital. But her eldest son told the agency that his mother, who once could not identify him at times, can now recognize him and call him by his name.
On Weibo, many people expressed their anger over the case. "Only nine years? Nine years for ruining her life? Go to hell really," one user wrote.
- In:
- slavery
- Rape
- Sexual Abuse
- China
- Kidnapping
- Human Trafficking
veryGood! (947)
Related
- Olympic Skier Lindsey Vonn Coming Out of Retirement at 40
- Grizzly bear suspected of maulings near Yellowstone area killed after breaking into house
- Do COVID-19 tests still work after they expire? Here's how to tell.
- Investigative genetic genealogy links man to series of sexual assaults in Northern California
- Will Trump curb transgender rights? After election, community prepares for worst
- Felony convictions for 4 ex-Navy officers vacated in Fat Leonard bribery scandal
- Poland bank governor says interest rate cut justified by falling inflation
- New federal rule may help boost competition for railroad shipments at companies with few options
- Worker trapped under rubble after construction accident in Kentucky
- California lawmakers approve new tax for guns and ammunition to pay for school safety improvements
Ranking
- Celtics' Jaylen Brown calls Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo a 'child' over fake handshake
- McConnell vows to finish Senate term and remain GOP leader after freezing episodes
- Bethany Joy Lenz Details How She Escaped a Cult and Found Herself
- 'We started celebrating': 70-year-old woman wins $452,886 from Michigan Lottery Fast Cash game
- Chris Wallace will leave CNN 3 years after defecting from 'Fox News Sunday'
- Without proper air conditioning, many U.S. schools forced to close amid scorching heat
- Fugitive killer used previous escapee's 'crab walking' breakout method: Warden
- 'Barbie' music producer Mark Ronson opens up about the film's 'bespoke' sound
Recommendation
-
Surfer Bethany Hamilton Makes Masked Singer Debut After 3-Year-Old Nephew’s Tragic Death
-
Philanthropies pledge $500 million to address 'crisis in local news'
-
Japan’s Kishida says China seafood ban contrasts with wide support for Fukushima water release
-
High school football coach whose on-field prayer led to SCOTUS ruling quits after 1 game
-
My Chemical Romance returns with ‘The Black Parade’ tour
-
Texas heat brings the state’s power grid closest it has been to outages since 2021 winter storm
-
Dodgers' Julio Urías put on MLB administrative leave after domestic violence arrest
-
Ta’Kiya Young had big plans for her growing family before police killed her in an Ohio parking lot