Peng Hongju, a woman who was part of a gang of kidnappers,...

Peng Hongju, a woman who was part of a gang of kidnappers, was sentenced to death after police rescued her from an ordeal in which she herself was trafficked into a forced marriage. Peng, 51, was sentenced to death by a court in southwestern Chongqing municipality after being convicted of helping kidnap and traffic 16 children and one woman between 1986 and 1992. Police in Rongchang county had cracked the case in 1992 with three ringleaders executed for the crimes, but Peng managed to escape, the report said. She then was kidnapped herself and sold into a 12-year marriage in northern Shanxi's Hequ county. Rongchang police "rescued" her from her ordeal earlier this year, then found out that she was connected to the earlier case and prosecuted her.