An Indonesian court on July 21 sentenced members of a newborn trafficking ring to the crime of selling children under the guise of adoption to couples in Indonesia and Singapore, with prison sentences of up to 7 years, with a minimum of 3 years and 4 months, AFP reported.
The District Court of Bandung city sentenced 18 women and one man for selling at least 34 infants in the period from 2022 to 2025, some of whom were taken to Singapore and sold for thousands of USD each.
The heaviest sentence, 7 years in prison, was pronounced for Lie Siu Luan (70 years old) - also known as Lily - who the court identified as the mastermind and ringleader of the ring, and also the recruiter of other defendants in the case.
Meanwhile, Astri Fitrinika (26 years old) and Djaka Hamdani (35 years old), each sentenced to 6 years and 7 months in prison for their role in finding infants for this trafficking ring. Djaka is the only male defendant in the case.
The court also sentenced Lai Siu Ha (60 years old) to 6 years and 7 months in prison - who, according to the court, supported the document-forging ring to conceal the origin of newborns. Elin Marlina, accused of assisting Astri and Djaka in finding children, also received a similar sentence.
Meanwhile, the remaining 15 defendants were each sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison for playing a secondary role in this activity.
The sentences were lower than the 10 years in prison that the prosecutor previously proposed for Lily, Astri, Djaka, Lai and Elin. The prosecutor previously proposed 5 years in prison for the remaining 14 accomplices.
