mayoraasei | temporary rape wtf?! (Reply)

The title of this article is "Zhejiang 'temporary rape case' to be reopened" and I went...wtf?? Temporary rape? As opposed to permanent rape?

And when I read it, it was even more wtf...so I decided to share with you the wtfness of the Chinese legal system. (My legalese is terrible so I'm sorry if I got some of the legal terms wrong.)

Due to pressure from the community, the strongly criticised case of "rape of temporary nature" in Zhejiang Nanxun has experienced a change of fate. After reviewing the case, Zhejiang Province Huzhou Intermediate Court conceded there was an error with the original sentence, that it was too light, and will set a date to reopen the case.

According to "Chongqing Evening Newspaper", on 10 June this year, two police assistants in Nanxun [TN: they cover some police duties but are not officially part of the police force], Qiu and Cai, took two fresh high school graduates Chen and Shen out for dinner. During the meal, all four drank lots of alcohol. Chen, who had low tolerance for alcohol, was knocked out by the time dinner finished. After the dinner, Cai drove everyone to a hotel in his own car and booked a room. While in the room, the two men raped Chen while she was unconscious and unable to resist.

On 19 October, Nanxun court found "according to the facts of the crime, in light of both persons having committed 'a reckless offence of temporary nature', with no premeditation, and voluntarily turning themselves in afterwards, and being able to obtain the forgiveness of the victim; in view of these circumstances, the sentencing will be reduced", and sentenced both men to 3 years.

The sentence caused a huge wave of dissent online, with netizens demanding, "What sort of concept is 'rape of temporary nature'? Are rape crimes divided into 'official and unofficial' and of different durations? The two men took turns raping the victim while she was unconscious, why was this not gang rape? How did they 'obtain the forgiveness of the victim'? Did they 'seal her mouth with money'? If this sentence sets a precedent, then from now on are all 'reckless offences of temporary nature' going to have their 'sentencing reduced'?"

Netizens pointed out that to get a high school graduate drunk, and then to take her to a hotel and rape her, is clearly a premeditated crime, and not "of temporary nature" at all. People joked that if this becomes a trend, things like "murder of temporary nature", "bribery and corruption of temporary nature", "drink driving of temporary nature", "robbery of temporary nature" are going to appear...if all crimes use "of temporary nature" as an excuse to reduce the sentence, it's easy to see that an era of "of temporary nature" will soon be upon us.

In response to the criticism and denunciation from all corners of society, Zhejiang Province Huzhou Intermediate Court reviewed the case and conceded there was an error with the original judgement, that the sentence was too lenient, and will reopen the case some time in the future.

Original article in Chinese here.