China sentences orphanage director, nine others to prison for baby-trafficking
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-25 15:34

Foreign parents often pay thousands of dollars in fees or donations to adoption agencies or orphanages.

Earlier reports said baby girls bought by orphanages in Hengyang ranged in age from a few days to several months and were abducted from families in neighboring Guangdong province.

In the case in Hengyang, Chen Ming, director of the Hengdong Social Welfare Home, was sentenced Friday to one year in prison, Xinhua said. It said Chen is a fugitive.

Baby traffickers Liang Guihong, Duan Meilin and Dai Chao were sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,000; euro5,000) each, the report said.

Six accomplices received sentences ranging from three to 13 years, Xinhua said.

Among the officials dismissed for negligence were Deng Guangyang and Zhou Liqun, directors of the Hengyang and Hengdong County civil affairs bureaus, Xinhua said. It said directors of the local welfare homes were also dismissed.

In August, two gang leaders were sentenced to death by a court in the southern province of Fujian for buying 82 children from their parents and selling them to families in Singapore.