Son of Chinese General on Trial for Rape

Just days after the end of the Bo Xilai
trial, one of China's most public political
cases in decades, another trial in Beijing
is highlighting the legal troubles of
China's elite.

On Wednesday, the teenage son of two
famous People's Liberation Army
singers appeared at his first hearing on
charges that he participated in the gang
rape of a woman in a hotel in the capital
last February.

Li Tianyi and four other defendants are
accused of having forced a drunk
woman from a bar to a hotel for sex.
After the woman refused to take off her
clothes, the five men allegedly beat and
raped her.

During the trial Li pleaded not guilty,
saying he was drunk at the time of the
alleged rape.
The case has sparked an outcry in
China since the news media published
Li's name.
Public outcry
Public opinion has been sharply critical
of the 17-year-old, who many perceive
as an out-of-control guanerdai, or
“second generation official.”

Beijing Institute of Technology law
professor Xu Xin says such public
resentment is understandable, as many
in China link the politically connected
class to the economic inequality that
weighs on the country.
“There are many grievances about
today's society which are often directed
to the corrupt and rich,” Xu said.

Because he is a minor and because of
the sexual nature of the crime, Li's trial
is not open.
Yet on Wednesday, many online news
portals in China published real-time
updates from outside the courtroom,
underscoring the deep interest with
which Chinese people are following the
case.

Li's mother, Meng Ge, a famous PLA
singer, arrived at the court shortly
before the trial began but did not speak
to journalists.

Li Shuangjiang, the defendant's father,
is a PLA singer as well as an army
general. In 2011, after his son was
accused of assaulting a couple during a
traffic dispute, Li Shuangjiang visited
the injured couple in the hospital and
apologized to them, saying he had not
raised his son properly.

Courts in China are often pressured to
rule in favor of the powerful. But some
some China analysts say Li Tianyi's
case might be too public for his family
to intervene.
Zhang Ming, a political scientist at
Beijing's Renmin University, says the
parents' high profile might have made it
easier for them to influence the court
had the trial been held in a more remote
location.

“But this trial is in Beijing, and their
names have been disclosed early on,”
he said. “Hot discussion among the
public about the case has become a
liability for Li Tianyi.”
In the weeks leading up to Wednesday's
hearing, Li's lawyers and his mother
have tried to counter mounting criticism
by building up a strong public defense in
the media.

They have said the assaulted woman
was a prostitute, and they accused the
bar owner of pimping and extortion.
As part of their effort to show that Li is
innocent, they called for an open trial
despite his age.
Before entering the courtroom
Wednesday morning, the victim's lawyer,
Tian Canjun, told journalists that
regardless of the defense strategy, the
facts and the law will establish Li's guilt
or innocence.

Li's trial comes just days after a court in
Jinan concluded the prosecution of
disgraced politician Bo Xilai, accused of
corruption bribes and abuse of power.

Unexpectedly, the court published most
of the Bo trial transcripts on a microblog
account, which the public and the media
in China were able to check in real time.
Law professor Xu Xin says that if Li
Tianyi's trial has similar elements of
transparency, it would increase the
public's trust in the courts.

Of the five accused of rape, only Li
Tianyi's name was published.
“People are now thinking that the other
four defendants might have even more
prominent family backgrounds,” said Xu
Xin.
Li's trial is set to end on Thursday.
The victim did not take part in today's
proceeding and is not likely to
participate Thursday. Last week she was
hospitalized, and her lawyer said it was
due to the stress caused by the trial.

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