Investigators said the woman inseminated herself with semen bought from a fellow inmate

The northern province of Quang Ninh has suspended four officers at a local prison after a drug trafficker on death row managed to get herself pregnant in an apparent attempt to avoid the penalty.

Investigators and prosecutors have confirmed that Nguyen Thi Hue, 42, is expected to give birth in April.

The woman from Lang Son Province was arrested in Quang Ninh in 2012 for drug trafficking. She was found guilty and sentenced to death in 2014.

Investigators said that Hue had bought sperm from Nguyen Tuan Hung, 27, a male inmate for VND50 million (over US$2,200).

Hung handed over his semen and syringes to Hue twice in August 2015. She got pregnant after inseminating herself, investigators said.

In Vietnam, a pregnant woman or a mother whose child is less than 36 months old cannot be sentenced to death. Death sentences, if already handed down, will have to be reduced to life imprisonment.

In a similar case in 2007, two corrections officers in Hoa Binh Province were jailed after letting a woman on death row have sex with a male inmate and become pregnant.