A Chinese woman convicted of abducting and trafficking 17 children has been executed, months after her sentencing.
According to China Daily, Yu Huaying was executed on Friday, March 7, by order of the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court in Guizhou province, Southwest China. The execution followed her conviction for multiple child abductions and sales spanning a decade.
Initially, Yu was found guilty of abducting 11 children during her 2023 trial. However, further investigations revealed the true number of victims to be 17. The Supreme People’s Court upheld and approved her death sentence in the fall of 2023, and prosecutors from the local procuratorate oversaw the execution.
Victims Sold for Profit
Among Yu’s victims was Yang Niuhua, who was trafficked as a child in 1995 for 3,500 yuan. Now an adult, Yang has been documenting her journey to reunite with her biological family on the social media platform Douyin.
Court records also revealed that Yu’s first victim was her own son. In her twenties, she sold him for 5,000 yuan.
Crimes Spanning a Decade
Yu’s crimes occurred between 1993 and 2003, with victims taken from Guizhou, Chongqing, and Yunnan provinces before being sold. She was found guilty of child trafficking in a first-instance criminal judgment and sentenced to death.
Following her conviction, Yu appealed the ruling, but the Guizhou Provincial Higher People’s Court swiftly dismissed her appeal and reaffirmed the death sentence in a second-instance trial.
In addition to capital punishment, Yu was stripped of her political rights, and all her personal assets were confiscated.
“The defendant’s actions were extremely malicious, and her crimes were particularly egregious,” the court stated. “Given the severe consequences of her offenses, a harsh punishment was warranted. Although she confessed, this was not sufficient for a reduced sentence.”