Usually a woman accusing a local official of rape isn’t international news. However, one upcoming rape trial is attracting attention because it’s taking place in China. Having a powerful man charged withs sexual assault isn’t easy anywhere, but in China it’s nearly impossible.
This month Wang Zhonggui, the chief of the land and resource bureau in the town of Ashi, is expected to stand trial for the rape of a schoolteacher in May. Wang and several other officials visited Ashi’s middle school, and afterwards, the principal encouraged the teacher to toast each of their visitors. She had 14 or 15 shots and Wang and the school’s vice principal offered to drive her home. Instead they wound up alone in Wang’s suite. The New York Times reports:
After the school official left, she staggered to the bathroom, threw up and tried to hold the door shut while Mr. Wang pounded on it.
Then, she said, Mr. Wang climbed through the bathroom window and dragged her to a bedroom adjoining his office. She woke up several hours later, almost naked, in an empty room. On the floor was a used condom, she said.
The woman reported the rape to police, but their response was horrifying. They refused to secure the crime scene, one officer told her to keep quiet to protect her reputation, and another said, “If he wore a condom, it isn’t rape.” Later a town official encouraged her boyfriend to leave her.
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