Chinese man is first to be prosecuted of sexual assault of another male
By ANIWednesday, January 5, 2011
NEW DELHI - A man in China, convicted of intentional injury for raping his male colleague, has been sentenced to one year in jail in what is believed to be the first prosecution of a sexual assault of a man.
Chaoyang district people’s court press officer Wang Liying revealed Zhang Hua, 42, not his real name, worked as a security guard at Haosha Sports Center in Beijing’s Chaoyang district when the assault occurred.
The court was told that on May 9th night, Zhang raped 18-year-old Li Jun, not his real name, in their dormitory, inflicting minor injuries upon the latter, China Daily reported.
Li reported the incident to the police, and they detained Zhang, a native of Northeast China’s Jilin province, the following day.
Zhang was brought to the court on the charge of intentional injury on August 30, and in September, the court ruled that Zhang deliberately injured another person, resulting in minor injuries to the victim, which constituted the crime of intentional injury.
In addition to serving his jail term, Zhang was also ordered to pay Li 20,000 yuan in compensation.
Rape, as defined by China’s criminal law, refers to forcing a female to engage in sexual intercourse against her will. Consequently, Zhang’s behaviour could not be legally classified as rape.
According to the Beijing-based Mirror Evening News, although Zhang was convicted of intentional injury rather than rape, he is probably the mainland’s first person sentenced for sexually assaulting a man.
“If Zhang had sexually assaulted a woman, he would be charged with rape and face a jail term of at least three years,” director of the Beijing-based Zhongguangweitian Law Firm Lu Zheng said.
China University of Political Science and Law professor Hong Daode said he believed the case touched upon a flaw in the country’s legal system.
“Legislators hadn’t thought about the possibility that men could be rape victims or that women can also rape men,” he said.
He also said the law should be changed to include these possibilities as soon as possible, as the frequency of same-gender sexual assaults has continued to dramatically increase in recent years. (ANI)
