Print

Mail

wiki links

China hands down death penalty in kiln slavery case

China sentenced a man to death and jailed 28 people for up to life yesterday for their roles in a massive slavery and child labor scandal at brick kilns.

Owners, managers and enforcers at the prison-like kilns, which state media said numbered in the hundreds in Shanxi Province, were convicted of charges including forced labor, illegal detention and causing injury, an official said.

Zhao Yanbing (趙延兵) received the death penalty from the Linfen Intermediate People's Court for inflicting a beating that led to the death of a worker at a kiln in Hongtong County that was at the center of the scandal.

Zhao beat the worker with a shovel for being slow and buried the body after he died the next day in his dormitory, the door and windows of which were locked to prevent workers fleeing.

Heng Tinghan (衡庭漢), who ran the kiln where 31 workers worked 14 to 16 hours a day for little or no pay, was jailed for life, Shanxi Provincial High Court Vice President Liu Jimin (劉冀民) said during an online video press conference.

The scandal exploded after hundreds of parents complained their children were being forced to work in brick kilns in Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.

Heng, 42, had become the chief villain in the scandal after media reports that a worker died at the kiln he ran in Hongtong's Caosheng Village and ran pictures of workers with their skin rubbed raw or severely burned.

His kiln enslaved 34 laborers, including nine who were mentally disabled, Liu said.

The court heard that between March last year and May of this year, 19 workers were injured and one died.

Kiln boss Wang Bingbing (王兵兵) was sentenced to nine years in jail for unlawful detention, Liu said. Wang's father was a village Chinese Communist Party secretary and he was expelled from the party after the scandal broke.

The People's Daily has quoted Wang as saying the operation originally had employed local workers, but began using those provided by human traffickers last year after falling into debt.
This story has been viewed 1473 times.