A woman was sentenced to death for abducting and trafficking 17 children, according to a retrial conducted by a court in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province on Friday.

In September 2023, the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Yu Huaying to death after finding her guilty of abducting and trafficking 11 children.

She abducted the children from Guizhou and Chongqing to the city of Handan in Hebei Province between 1993 and 1996.

Ms Huaying and her accomplice, a man who has since died, sold the children for profit.

She immediately submitted an appeal against the ruling.

In November 2023, the Guizhou Provincial Higher People’s Court held a second-instance trial.

In January 2024, the court ordered a retrial of the case after the police discovered that she was implicated in more child trafficking cases.

The number of children involved in the high-profile trafficking case has since risen from 11 to 17.

The children came from 12 families, five of them losing two children at the same time, according to the court.

Some children were even abandoned midway.

Ms Huaying was also deprived of her political rights for life, and all of her personal property would be confiscated.

(Xinhua/NAN)