Canadian Chinese singer Kris Wu was sentenced to 13 years in prison in China on Friday after being found guilty of rape, the Chaoyang District People’s Court in Beijing said in a statement on social media site Weibo.
The Chinese court said Wu had taken advantage of three women under the influence of alcohol and forced them to have sex with him at his house in 2020. Wu was also found guilty of “gathering a crowd to engage in promiscuous activities,” according to the statement.
Wu was accused by 18-year-old college student Du Meizhu back in of asking young women to come to his home to discuss career opportunities, then getting them drunk and pressuring them to have sex with him, the New York Times reported.
Wu was arrested in 2021 for allegations brought forth by 18-year-old college student Du Meizhu of asking young women to come to his home to discuss career opportunities, the outlet said, then getting them drunk and pressuring them to have sex with him.
Prior to his arrest, Wu was a “superstar” who had tens of millions of followers on social media, according to the Times. Wu had been born in China and raised for part of his childhood in Canada, and gained popularity as a member of a Korean pop group named EXO before becoming a solo model, singer and actor, gaining endorsements from Bulgari, Louis Vuitton and Porsche, the outlet said.
Initially, college student Meizhu was thought to have been overplaying her allegations by police to “enhance her online popularity,” according to the Times. This caused Meizhu’s allegations to become amplified, the Times said, after her supporters accused authorities of shaming a victim.
The outlet said this was a rare occurrence in China because sexual assault victims are often dissuaded from speaking out about about their experiences.
The court also said in its statement on social media that Wu would be deported from the country, and Wu has the right to appeal his conviction and prison term. Wu has denied the allegations from the beginning, the Times added.
In another, separate social media statement, the Chinese government said it “pursued tax payment, imposed late payment fees and imposed fines” totaling 600 million yuan, or about $83 million, according to Xinhua, a state-owned news agency.
Supporters of China’s #MeToo movement said the conviction would be a warning to perpetrators of sexual misconduct, according to the Times.
China’s Communist Party was in support of the conviction, proving that it was “a lesson to celebrities that fame will not shield them from justice,” the outlet wrote.
“It will also encourage some women to have the courage to come forward to defend their rights in an environment where victims are often shamed and humiliated,” said Huang Simin, a mainland-based human rights lawyer who has worked on cases related to gender violence, told the Times.
Source: Mass Live
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