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Group sex trial polarizes nation
By Wang Xiang |
April 7, 2010, Wednesday
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Online Edition
Online Edition
TWENTY-TWO alleged swingers stood trial today for engaging in group sex, while the suspected organizer pleaded not guilty, stoking a debate on whether the charges were justified.
"I was definitely not guilty and the crime of group licentiousness was ridiculous," said Ma Xiaohai, an associate professor of computer science in an unnamed Nanjing university, according to Modern Express today.
Ma and 21 others were charged with engaging in 18 swingers' parties during 2007 to 2009, most of which were in Ma's apartment.
Ma argued that the parties he organized were a "noble thing" as they could stop extramarital relationships, which he saw as much more immoral.
If convicted, the 22 will become the first group found guilty of criminal licentiousness in two decades and face up to five years in prison.
The trial was heard in a private session in Qinghuai District People's Court in Nanjing. It was estimated to last three days.
Ma's lawyer Yao Yong'an said yesterday that the charge could not stand because Ma's private and consent-based conduct did not harm anyone, Modern Express reported,
But a prosecutor named Xiao Shuijin said the charge stands if more than two people had sex at the same place and the same time. It does not need a victim to convict someone of licentiousness, Xiao said.
Mao, 53, identified online as "horny fire," started the swingers' chat room on instant messaging tool QQ in 2007 after he left his second marriage with "deep emotional scars and distorted personality," according to Yangtze Evening News.
Prominent sexual right advocate Li Yinhe said out-of-date customs have staled people's conception of sex and the crime should be banished as it denies people's constitutional rights to their own body.
But most Internet commentators said they could not accept the idea of wife swapping and said Ma's "barbarous acts" pose a great threat to social norms.
"I was definitely not guilty and the crime of group licentiousness was ridiculous," said Ma Xiaohai, an associate professor of computer science in an unnamed Nanjing university, according to Modern Express today.
Ma and 21 others were charged with engaging in 18 swingers' parties during 2007 to 2009, most of which were in Ma's apartment.
Ma argued that the parties he organized were a "noble thing" as they could stop extramarital relationships, which he saw as much more immoral.
If convicted, the 22 will become the first group found guilty of criminal licentiousness in two decades and face up to five years in prison.
The trial was heard in a private session in Qinghuai District People's Court in Nanjing. It was estimated to last three days.
Ma's lawyer Yao Yong'an said yesterday that the charge could not stand because Ma's private and consent-based conduct did not harm anyone, Modern Express reported,
But a prosecutor named Xiao Shuijin said the charge stands if more than two people had sex at the same place and the same time. It does not need a victim to convict someone of licentiousness, Xiao said.
Mao, 53, identified online as "horny fire," started the swingers' chat room on instant messaging tool QQ in 2007 after he left his second marriage with "deep emotional scars and distorted personality," according to Yangtze Evening News.
Prominent sexual right advocate Li Yinhe said out-of-date customs have staled people's conception of sex and the crime should be banished as it denies people's constitutional rights to their own body.
But most Internet commentators said they could not accept the idea of wife swapping and said Ma's "barbarous acts" pose a great threat to social norms.
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