Three men who were judged guilty of rape of minors were executed today in China, as announced by the country’s Supreme People’s Court.

The condemned were approaching underage girls through an online application, they set up dates and kidnapped them to satisfy their sick appetites.

The first case concerns a businessman in Hubei province who was convicted of raping seven girls, ages 6 to 14, from January 2017 to August 2019. Four of them were repeatedly raped, while two teenagers became pregnant and miscarried.

In the second case, a pedophile was found guilty of raping five girls – including three under the age of 14 – and molesting another 14 minors from late 2017 to January 2019 in Shandong province. According to the case file, he managed to convince the victims to send him indecent photos and then blackmailed them into publishing them if they refused to have intercourse with him.

The third case involved a Henan resident who was also convicted of raping minor girls from October 2017 to August 2018. He approached his victims through a messaging app, took obscene photos of them and blackmailed them to sexually exploit them. According to the case file, he videotaped the rapes.

In the announcement of the Supreme People’s Court of China, it is underlined that the execution of the three rapists demonstrates the determination of the authorities to protect minors, while it appeals to parents and teachers to supervise children’s navigation on the Internet.