Severity of skull-trade jail terms contested
By Wang Xiang |
March 26, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Beijing Higher People's Court yesterday began hearing the appeal of a Chinese American man who was jailed for eight years over selling more than 200 human skulls to foreign countries.
Ding Hai, who has a PhD from Florida State University and is the proprietor of a technology consultancy, was charged with running an illegal business operation as trading in human remains is against the law, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
Ji Shengming and Liang Guokai, two farmers in northwest China's Qinghai Province, are standing trial alongside Ding for helping him dig out the skulls from burial grounds.
Ji and Liang were each jailed for five years last September.
The illicit trade was exposed after the American Federal Bureau of Investigation told China's Public Security Ministry that they found many express-mail deliveries from a man in Beijing to France, the United Kingdom and the United States containing human remains.
Toy ruse
FBI officers said most of the skulls were sent to the US, predominantly to Los Angeles, in parcels listed as "toys and plastic models" on Customs declarations.
Following the tip-off, Beijing police started investigating Ding.
He was arrested in June, 2008, with his girlfriend in a countryside villa outside Beijing where police found about 1,100 human skulls in the garage.
Forensic tests showed that all skulls were from modern-day humans.
Ding told police that an online request for human skulls led him into the lucrative business.
He began to buy human skulls from Beijing antique markets and resold them with huge mark-ups. As market supplies dwindled, Ding turned to cemeteries.
Blind eye
Ding hired Ji and Liang to dig up skulls for him in grave yards in Qinghai Province and paid them 80 yuan (US$11.70) to 160 yuan each.
He told Ji and Yang that he was a professor and needed the skulls for research.
Ding bought more than 1,300 skulls from the two and sold many of them online to foreign countries at an average US$150 each.
Ding's girlfriend, Liu Jun, said she was initially shocked when he began to bring human skulls home but turned a blind eye because of large profits.
Liu said most of the skulls were sent to Zhang Jing, a friend of Ding's in Los Angeles.
Experts said the skulls might have been made into artifacts or used for medical research.
The US is one of the biggest importers of skulls as medical schools and dentists need them for presentations.
Ding Hai, who has a PhD from Florida State University and is the proprietor of a technology consultancy, was charged with running an illegal business operation as trading in human remains is against the law, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
Ji Shengming and Liang Guokai, two farmers in northwest China's Qinghai Province, are standing trial alongside Ding for helping him dig out the skulls from burial grounds.
Ji and Liang were each jailed for five years last September.
The illicit trade was exposed after the American Federal Bureau of Investigation told China's Public Security Ministry that they found many express-mail deliveries from a man in Beijing to France, the United Kingdom and the United States containing human remains.
Toy ruse
FBI officers said most of the skulls were sent to the US, predominantly to Los Angeles, in parcels listed as "toys and plastic models" on Customs declarations.
Following the tip-off, Beijing police started investigating Ding.
He was arrested in June, 2008, with his girlfriend in a countryside villa outside Beijing where police found about 1,100 human skulls in the garage.
Forensic tests showed that all skulls were from modern-day humans.
Ding told police that an online request for human skulls led him into the lucrative business.
He began to buy human skulls from Beijing antique markets and resold them with huge mark-ups. As market supplies dwindled, Ding turned to cemeteries.
Blind eye
Ding hired Ji and Liang to dig up skulls for him in grave yards in Qinghai Province and paid them 80 yuan (US$11.70) to 160 yuan each.
He told Ji and Yang that he was a professor and needed the skulls for research.
Ding bought more than 1,300 skulls from the two and sold many of them online to foreign countries at an average US$150 each.
Ding's girlfriend, Liu Jun, said she was initially shocked when he began to bring human skulls home but turned a blind eye because of large profits.
Liu said most of the skulls were sent to Zhang Jing, a friend of Ding's in Los Angeles.
Experts said the skulls might have been made into artifacts or used for medical research.
The US is one of the biggest importers of skulls as medical schools and dentists need them for presentations.
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