VietNamNet Bridge – The People's Court in the northern Ha Giang Province yesterday (July 29) sentenced five persons to a combined more than 100 years' imprisonment for cross-border trafficking of ethnic minorities.

The convicted are four Vietnamese persons -- Dinh Thi Lan, 47; Dinh Thi Binh, 43; Hua Viet Truong, 25; and Lu Van Xanh, 22 -- and a 54-year-old Chinese man with a Vietnamese name Vinh Trieu Binh. All four Vietnamese convicts belong to the Tay and Nung ethnic minority communities from Ha Giang Province's Vi Xuyen Township.

The indictment said the five convicts smuggled six Vietnamese ethnic girls thrice from Viet Nam to China's Yunnan Province between April 2014 and July this year. All the victims were adolescents, including one who was under 15.

The convicts said in court that the girls were taken to China to be wives, maids and prostitutes. The total money they got from the trafficking was 80,000 Chinese yuan (nearly US$13,000).

There is no information about the whereabouts of three of the victims.

The court sentenced Hua Viet Truong and Dinh Thi Binh to 23 and 21 years in prison, respectively. The other three were sentenced to 20 years in jail each.

VNS