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A court in
China has convicted the son of two high-profile army singers and sentenced him
to 10 years in jail for rape, state media say.
The court
said it had shown leniency to Li Tianyi, 17, because he was a juvenile, despite
the fact he was the ringleader.
Li and four
others raped the woman at a Beijing hotel in February after drinks.
He had
denied any sexual relations with the woman, whom he alleged was working as a
prostitute, previous reports say.
Li Tianyi
is the son of Li Shuangjiang, who has the rank of general and is known for his
renditions of patriotic songs on television. Li's mother Meng Ge is also a
well-known singer in China's People's Liberation Army.
Many
Chinese have watched the case closely, shocked by the behaviour of the children
of China's elites, and the way the police and courts often give them favourable
treatment, the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing reports.
Li, who was
16 at the time of the rape, plans to appeal against his conviction.
"I
think this verdict is unjust," one of his lawyers, Chen Shu, told
journalists, AFP news agency reports. "This decision is based on evidence
that is delayed and verbal testimony. This type of verbal testimony is
unreliable."
Three other
teenage defendants and a man were also found guilty by the Haidian Court in
north-west Beijing.
It said it
was giving Li Tianyi a lighter sentence because juvenile offenders should be
given a chance to correct and reform their behaviour.
Two of the
teenagers who took part in the rape, one aged 15, had their sentences suspended
because, the court said, they had confessed, showed remorse and apologised to
their victim.
The one man
who took part was given a 12-year sentence because he too had regretted his
actions and been co-operative.
This was
not the first time that Li Tianyi, also known as Li Guanfeng, was involved in
an incident that sparked a public outcry. In 2011, he was sentenced to
detention for a year over a road rage incident.
He was
behind the wheel of a BMW car with no licence plates in Beijing when he
confronted a middle-aged couple in another vehicle blocking his way.
He
assaulted the couple and shouted at shocked bystanders, telling them not to
"dare to call the police".
His father
apologised to the couple over the incident.
The case of
Li Tianyi inflamed public anger at the children of the political elite, who are
often seen as spoilt and above the law, correspondents say.
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