/>A CHINESE obstetrician faces the death penalty after admitting that she stole seven babies from her patients.
In a case that has gripped China, a 56-year-old doctor at a rural maternity hospital confessed to delivering babies, telling their parents that they were severely disabled or terminally ill, and then selling them to traffickers.
She chose only families whom she knew well, and whom she knew would trust her without question.
Zhang Shuxia, whose crimes came to light in August, stood trial on Monday in Weinan, Shaanxi province, and faces a possible death penalty.
The president of her hospital, in Fuping county, was dismissed along with two other senior managers and three county officials.
Six of the seven infants who were listed in court have been rescued, but one baby died after being trafficked for 1,000 yuan (€120) in April 2013. However, villagers in Fuping said that the authorities had only charged Dr Zhang with a fraction of her real crimes, and that older cases had not been investigated. They allege that Dr Zhang trafficked many more infants over the course of at least seven years.
"The abduction of my granddaughter was not among the charges," said one villager.
"After the media storm, the police and local government lost interest in finding the other children. The local government is trying to play down and cover up the full story.
"I have no confidence in finding my granddaughter. The police clearly do not want to do anything about it," he added.
Meanwhile, Yang Huamai, the grandmother of a pair of twin girls who were abducted, said she was still waiting for a full explanation from Dr Zhang.
"I hope she gets a fair trial, and all our family wants is an answer as to why she did it," she said.
Child trafficking is a huge business in China, partly because the restrictions of the one child policy have denied many couples the chance to naturally produce the society's most prized goal: a male heir.
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