Wednesday, February 10, 2016

How do China's military courts deal with rape?

This observer [Susan Finder] is awaiting a time when the Chinese military courts will release some of their cases related to sexual harassment.  In the meantime, a search of the Supreme People’s Court’s judgments database reveals the following cases (among others) in which defendants were convicted of rape by a military court.  As mentioned previously, for most violent crimes, a defendant is dishonorably discharged from the PLA and handed over to the civilian authorities.  Under China’s Criminal Law, rape is punished by three to 10 years in prison, and in certain specified situations, no less than 10 years in prison, life imprisonment, or death:
  • Zeng Xiaoping, convicted in 2012 by the Shanghai Armed Police Military Court of robbery (sentenced to 11 years) and rape (sentenced to 3 years) with the two sentences to run concurrently for 12 years, had his sentence reduced by 10 months by the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court.
  • Zhu Xiaochong, convicted in 2000 of rape (5 years) and murder (life imprisonment) by the People’s Armed Police Military Court.  In storage area in Pingan County, Qinghai Province, he raped a shepherdess and strangled her with her scarf.  The court determined that he was a juvenile when he committed the crime. He had his sentence reduced by the Xinxiang Intermediate Court (for the third time), and served a total of approximately 11 years before being released.
  • Chen Weiyue, convicted in 1991 by the PLA Air Force Lanzhou Military District Military Court of rape and sentenced to three years in prison, was convicted by a lower court of rape in 2015, but an appeals court remanded the case for retrial.
  • Hu Wei, convicted in 1999 by the PLA Navy Military Court of rape and sentenced to life imprisonment, and upheld by the PLA Military Court, and after he was dishonorably discharged and transferred to the civilian prison system, had his sentence reduced in 2002 to 18 years in prison by the Shanghai Higher People’s Court, had his sentence reduced several times, the last time by eight months, and was scheduled to be released several weeks after the ruling was issued. 
  • Liu Liang, convicted in 2009 by the Urumqi Armed Police Military Court of rape and murder and sentenced to ten and a half years in prison, had his sentence reduced for the third time by the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court, this time by nine months.
  • Wu Jian, convicted in 2001 by the Nanjing Military District Military Court  of rape and robbery and sentenced to eight years three months for rape, 11 years for robbery, and six months for theft, had his sentence reduced for the third time, this time by the Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court, by 11 months.
Readers are invited to comment on how these sentences compare with those in the US and other countries. [Real names only, please.] Thanks to Susan Finder for this post.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are subject to moderation and must be submitted under your real name. Anonymous comments will not be posted (even though the form seems to permit them).