Slave owners get away

Some of the bosses responsible for keeping children and adults in slave-like conditions, locked-up, deprived of adequate food and made to work without pay, have been sentenced. (China Daily: “One gets death in kiln slavery scandal”)

But it is surprising that only one man got the death penalty, because he killed one of the workers. So he was convicted for murder. All the others, including the owner of one of the kilns, got lighter sentences. Boss Wang Bingbing only got nine years in prison. It is practically a license to continue the practice of slavery! How is this possible? The local judges were probably also involved in the slave trade and wanted to shield their fellow criminals. In such a high profile case, the criminals should be brought to Beijing and tried by a special court. If they get tried in the locality where they perpetrated their crimes, corrupt judges will make sure they get off lightly. Even some Chinese law experts say the punishments were “lenient”. Not only the slavery scandal itself is a blot on socialist China, as Shanxi Provincial Court vice president Liu Jimin said, the lenient punishment is even a larger blot.

33 officials have been removed from their government or party posts and 62 received disciplinary warnings. They shielded slavery through corruption or dereliction of duty and got off lightly. The Shanxi party and government leadership itself should take the blame. Far from promoting socialist production, they condoned slavery. There are reports that several, perhaps tens or hundreds of slavery kilns are still in business and thousands of people – including children – are still treated as slaves. Protected by corrupt officials and the police. The central government should sent in elite troops to break up this mess, instead of relying on local cadres.

The rule of law doesn't work in China because the judiciary system is corrupt and rotten to the core, to such an extent that in a so-called “communist” country, slave owners are barely punished. Imagine what Chairman Mao's Revolutionary Red Guards would have done with the slave owners.