Pair first to be convicted under rape ruling
Print Edition
Two men have been convicted of rape after they paid to have sex with a 13-year-old girl in the first case to classify such an offense as rape rather than child prostitution, yesterday’s Chengdu Economic Daily reported.
Abolishing the crime of having sex with underage prostitutes has long been mooted as its existence is widely considered to have shielded pedophiles from harsher punishment.
The crime was introduced in 1997 with a maximum sentence of 15 years but some people argue that this is a loophole which favors offenders as the rape of a minor, in contrast, can result in a death sentence.
In October 2013, judicial authorities issued guidelines stating that anyone who had sex with minors should be deemed to have committed rape.
Qionglai People’s Court, in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, became the first court to put the guidelines into practice when the two men, both surnamed Yang, were convicted on February 2. However, each was jailed for just five years.
The court heard that the girl had been lured into prostitution after a classmate had offered to find her a job but, in fact, led her into the hands of a prostitution ring.
The men had sex with her on July 19 and 22 in 2013, the court said, despite her telling them how old she was.
They paid the ring 1,600 yuan (US$255.84) but the girl’s only “reward” was some new clothes, the court said.
Meanwhile, her family reported her missing and police enquiries led to the arrest of the Yangs and two organizers of the prostitution ring. The organizers were jailed for six and seven years in January 2014.
In July 2009, a teacher, a lawmaker and four government officials from Xishui County in southwest China’s Guizhou Province received jail terms ranging from seven to 14 years for paying to have sex with minors.
The case triggered heated debate over punishments seen as too lenient, especially given their positions in society.
Sun Xiaomei, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, has called for the crime of having sex with under-age prostitutes to be abolished on three occasions — 2010, 2013 and again last year. She told the Southern Metropolis Daily that her years of efforts were about to pay off.
“In a response from the law affairs committee of the People’s Congress, I learned that authorities will take it seriously and think about abolishing such a crime when amending laws,” she said.
Figures released by Girl Protection, a campaign run by volunteers to raise awareness of and prevent the sexual abuse of children, show there were 503 reported cases of children being sexually assaulted last year, more than four times the number in 2013.
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