Male-on-male sex assault man jailed
By Zhang Xuanchen and Xu Fang |
January 5, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A 42-YEAR-OLD man was sentenced to one year in jail after he sexually assaulted and injured a male co-worker in Beijing.
The offender became the first man in China's modern legal history to be held criminally liable for sexual offences against another man, reported Legal Evening News yesterday.
The man was convicted on a charge of intentional damage instead of rape, as the victim was physically harmed during the assault, said the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing last month.
At present, only female rape is recognized by existing Chinese law and someone convicted faces at least three years behind bars. The sentence can be longer if the victim is physically injured in the attack, according to Lu Zheng, a Beijing lawyer.
The court heard the offender, identified by an alias Zhang Hua, worked as a security guard in an ice rink in the capital. He forced his 18-year-old co-worker, whose name was not revealed, into having sex and injured him in a dormitory on August 30 last year.
Zhang has offered 20,000 yuan (US$ 3,026) compensation to the victim. The court said it showed leniency as the victim said he could forgive Zhang and that Zhang had cooperated in the case.
Lu said the case can be looked upon as a positive step in modern Chinese law to protect the rights of male rape victims, the newspaper reported. As a result of the verdict, some legal experts have suggested expanding the legal definition of rape.
This rare case has led to much debate among Shanghai lawyers. Liu Chunquan, a lawyer from the Shanghai Panocean Law Firm, said the definition of rape in Criminal Law should be changed to punish homosexual rape, as it does exist. If the law isn't revised, the judiciary can't punish the offender in such a case if the victim isn't hurt.
"It is progress that the offender in the case is criminally punished, which indicates that people are facing up to the problem," he said.
But Li Xiaohua, director of the Shanghai Li Xiaohua Law Firm, said that it was a single case and it was unnecessary to revise the law for a small group. The offender in homosexual rape can be punished under other crimes, he added.
The offender became the first man in China's modern legal history to be held criminally liable for sexual offences against another man, reported Legal Evening News yesterday.
The man was convicted on a charge of intentional damage instead of rape, as the victim was physically harmed during the assault, said the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing last month.
At present, only female rape is recognized by existing Chinese law and someone convicted faces at least three years behind bars. The sentence can be longer if the victim is physically injured in the attack, according to Lu Zheng, a Beijing lawyer.
The court heard the offender, identified by an alias Zhang Hua, worked as a security guard in an ice rink in the capital. He forced his 18-year-old co-worker, whose name was not revealed, into having sex and injured him in a dormitory on August 30 last year.
Zhang has offered 20,000 yuan (US$ 3,026) compensation to the victim. The court said it showed leniency as the victim said he could forgive Zhang and that Zhang had cooperated in the case.
Lu said the case can be looked upon as a positive step in modern Chinese law to protect the rights of male rape victims, the newspaper reported. As a result of the verdict, some legal experts have suggested expanding the legal definition of rape.
This rare case has led to much debate among Shanghai lawyers. Liu Chunquan, a lawyer from the Shanghai Panocean Law Firm, said the definition of rape in Criminal Law should be changed to punish homosexual rape, as it does exist. If the law isn't revised, the judiciary can't punish the offender in such a case if the victim isn't hurt.
"It is progress that the offender in the case is criminally punished, which indicates that people are facing up to the problem," he said.
But Li Xiaohua, director of the Shanghai Li Xiaohua Law Firm, said that it was a single case and it was unnecessary to revise the law for a small group. The offender in homosexual rape can be punished under other crimes, he added.
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