Wow.
The BBC reports that two Chinese teachers have been sentenced to death for forcing more than 20 young girls — including their own students — into prostitution.
Zhao Qingmei and her husband, Chi Yao, were convicted of running a child-sex ring in the southern Guizhou province.
The girls, aged between 11 and 17, were taken to local hostels and reportedly told that their families would be poisoned if they refused to have sex.
And later:
Bijie Intermediate Court handed down the death sentences last Friday after hearing how the couple forced 23 girls into prostitution between March and June 2006.
Six of the victims were under the age of 14.
The court was told that the child-sex ring made 32,350 yuan.
Chi’s sentence was suspended for two years, and is likely to be commuted to life imprisonment.
The couple have until 24 December to appeal against the sentences.
Wow.