Kris Wu, a Canadian Chinese language pop singer who was as soon as certainly one of China’s hottest entertainers, was discovered responsible of rape by a Beijing court docket and sentenced to 13 years in jail on Friday, turning into some of the outstanding figures within the nation to be punished for #MeToo allegations.
In an announcement on social media the Chaoyang District Folks’s Court docket in Beijing mentioned Mr. Wu was convicted of benefiting from three drunken girls and forcibly having intercourse with them at his house in 2020. He was additionally discovered responsible of “gathering a crowd to have interaction in promiscuous actions,” the court docket mentioned.
Earlier than his arrest in 2021, Mr. Wu, who is understood in China as Wu Yifan, was a famous person with tens of thousands and thousands of followers on social media. Born in China and raised partly in Canada, he rose to fame as a member of the Korean pop band EXO earlier than establishing a profitable solo profession as a mannequin, singer and actor. He had endorsement offers with greater than a dozen outstanding home and worldwide manufacturers, together with Bulgari, Louis Vuitton and Porsche.
However his profession got here crashing down when he was accused by an 18-year-old college pupil of attractive younger girls like herself to his house to debate potential profession alternatives after which plying them with alcohol earlier than pressuring them for intercourse. The accuser, Du Meizhu, mentioned she believed that Mr. Wu had accomplished this to different younger girls.
Initially, the police’s preliminary findings of her allegations mentioned she had performed up her story “to boost her on-line recognition,” sparking outrage by her supporters and drawing accusations that the authorities have been shaming a sufferer.
This helped to amplify Ms. Du’s allegations, constructing a uncommon groundswell of assist in a rustic the place girls are sometimes discouraged from coming ahead with complaints for sexual misconduct, and the place victims of sexual assault and harassment are often focused for on-line abuse and even sued for defamation.
“This present day has lastly arrived,” Ms. Du wrote on the nation’s widespread Weibo social media platform after the jail sentence was introduced. “I’m very grateful for China’s authorized system that doesn’t spare any criminals, even when he’s an enormous star,” she later added.
After Mr. Wu’s detention final 12 months, propaganda shops of China’s ruling Communist Occasion hailed the arrest as a lesson to celebrities that fame won’t protect them from justice.
In its assertion, the court docket mentioned he would even be deported. Officers from the Canadian embassy in China attended the sentencing listening to, the court docket mentioned. Mr. Wu, who had denied the allegations once they first surfaced, has the best to enchantment his conviction and 13-year jail time period. Mr. Wu’s lawyer couldn’t be instantly reached.
In a separate announcement, the Chinese language authorities mentioned it might search 600 million yuan, or about $83 million, from Mr. Wu for tax evasion, overdue charges, and fines, in response to Xinhua, a state-owned information company.
Supporters of China’s nascent #MeToo motion mentioned the conviction, if it stands, would function a warning to perpetrators of sexual misconduct.
“It should additionally encourage some girls to have the braveness to return ahead to defend their rights in an setting the place victims are sometimes shamed and humiliated,” mentioned Huang Simin, a mainland-based human rights lawyer who has labored on circumstances associated to gender violence.
