photo: VCG

Four men in East China's Jiangxi Province were recently fined and sentenced to jail for repeatedly selling an intellectually disabled woman to others as a wife, a local court said this week.

The four men, surnamed Zheng, Zhou, Jiang and Ni, had sold the woman three times between 2017 and 2018 by offering matchmaking services to her, revealed Yingtan Intermediate People's Court on Tuesday.

According to the court, Jiang sold the woman in October 2017 at 70,000 yuan ($10,276) from her guardian to Zhou's mentally-disabled son as his wife, gaining 1,500 yuan and a packet of cigarettes as a "brokerage fee."

Only days later, the woman was resold by Zhou at 140,000 yuan to Zheng's mentally-disabled son as his wife in the same month, with the help of Jiang and Ni. Jiang and Ni received 1,700 yuan and 1,500 yuan as they were the "intermediary agents" in the deal.

The poor woman was sold again in January 2018 by Zheng at 160,000 yuan to a man surnamed Xiong with Ni's help. Ni also received 1,500 yuan this time.

Zheng, Zhou, Jiang and Ni were fined 10,000 yuan each and sentenced to up to four years and 10 months in prison by the court for trafficking the woman. Others involved, including the woman's guardian, were also convicted in the case.

China's Criminal Law regulates that those abducting and trafficking women or children should be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison in addition to fines.