Man sentenced to 1 year in prison in Beijing’s first male-on-male sexual assault case

In 2015, China’s criminal code was changed so that victims of ‘forcible indecency’ could be men as well as women

A Beijing man has been convicted on charges of forcibly performing “indecent” acts on another man in the first case of its kind in the city since a new amendment to China’s criminal code was passed several years ago.

According to the Shunyi District court, the 46-year-old man surnamed Dong took advantage of his 41-year-old male friend, surnamed Li, on the night of April 14th, 2017, while Li was drunk and asleep in a bedroom in the district.

The following day, Dong voluntarily turned himself into police and was able to reach a settlement with Li, the Beijing News reports. He also confessed that he had been diagnosed with HIV in 2015.

While Dong may have managed to settle the matter out of court with Li, that did not save him from criminal prosecution.

Though Dong’s lawyer argued for leniency, noting that his client had only committed a crime of “passion” while drunk, the Beijing court found Dong guilty of “forcible indecency,” charging him under an amendment to China’s criminal law which took effect back in November 2015.

That amendment changed the law’s wording so that the crime of “forcible indecency,” which can include sexual assaults and violations, became gender neutral. The crime is punishable by sentences of up to 5 years in prison, but is more commonly subject to short-term detentions of 1–6 months. Meanwhile, the crime of rape, which carries much harsher penalties, still only applies to female victims.

Which is why Dong was sentenced to only 1 year in prison and given 1 year of probation for his crime.

In comparison, Dong had previously been sentenced to 3 years in prison in 2008 for theft and 3 months in prison in 2016 for reckless driving.