Hunan doctor's rape case retrial reinstates 8-year sentence

A court in Yongzhou, Central China's Hunan province, reinstated an eight-year prison sentence on Wednesday for a doctor convicted of raping two young girls, overturning a previous appeal judgment that had reduced his sentence.

The Yongzhou Intermediate People's Court said that it decided to retry the case of Liu Zhouyun, the defendant, in accordance with the law. A closed hearing took place on Dec 19. Following deliberations by the collegiate bench and discussions by the Judicial Committee, the court publicly announced its judgment on Wednesday, revoking the original second-instance criminal judgment and upholding the first-instance judgment, which sentenced Liu to eight years of imprisonment for rape.

The retrial concluded that the facts of Liu's crimes were clear, with reliable and sufficient evidence. Liu had sexual intercourse with two girls under the age of 14, one of them on multiple occasions, which warranted severe punishment as rape, the court stated.

The court deemed appropriate the first-instance judgment, which sentenced Liu to eight years of imprisonment, while the second-instance judgment that reduced the sentence to six years was incorrect.

Liu, born in 1992, was an intern at a township health center in Lanshan county, Yongzhou. In October 2023, he was placed under criminal detention on suspicion of rape and subsequently prosecuted.

According to the indictment, in January 2022, Liu became acquainted online with a girl born in February 2010. In August 2022 and June 2023, he engaged in sexual intercourse with her on three separate occasions at a hotel in Yongzhou's Lengshuitan district. Liu met the other victim, a girl born in October 2009, online in August 2023. On Sept 21 of the same year, Liu engaged in sexual intercourse with her at a hotel in nearby Jianghua county.

In August 2024, the Jianghua County People's Court sentenced Liu to eight years in prison in its first-instance judgment.

Liu filed an appeal. The Yongzhou Intermediate People's Court, during its second-instance review, found that while the facts established in the original judgment were clear and the conviction accurate, the sentencing was improper. On July 24, 2025, the court issued a second-instance judgment. It upheld the first-instance conviction and the attached civil judgment but revoked the sentencing portion of the first-instance judgment, resentencing Liu to six years of imprisonment for rape.

In November 2025, the president of the Yongzhou Intermediate People's Court determined that the case met the conditions for a retrial, and a new collegiate bench was formed to conduct the proceedings, the indictment said.