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Rape suspect turns himself in

By Cui Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-13 11:58

A man has surrendered to police and confessed to raping a young woman who was allegedly under his guard, while she was being held illegally in Beijing to stop her from telling central government officials about her mistreatment back home.

Xu Jian, 26, from Tongbai county in Central China's Henan province, surrendered to the police in his hometown Tuesday morning.

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He allegedly raped a 20-year-old woman surnamed Li from Anhui province at the Juyuan Hotel where she claimed she was being held against her will in Beijing on Aug 4, according to a statement from the Beijing public security bureau released Tuesday night.

Xu is currently under detention in Beijing, the statement said. The case is being investigated.

Three days after Li arrived at the capital to petition the government over a school issue, she was taken to Juyuan Hotel and held by "guards" to prevent her from petitioning, Li told the Associated Press in an earlier interview.

Li said she was raped by one of the "guards" the same night she was taken to the hotel. Peng Guangfa, a petitioner who was also held in the hotel at that time, witnessed the entire event.

"The leader of those 'guards' raped the poor girl right in front of my eyes," Peng, who was sent back to Anhui province, told China Daily yesterday.

"We were lured to the hotel by the 'guards,' who are based in Beijing," said Peng. "They told us we were going to meet government officials who could help us solve our problems."

Petitioners were not allowed to leave the hotel until they promised the "guards" that they would not to come back to Beijing to petition. They were then escorted home by officials from their hometown, according to Peng.

Beijing police would not confirm whether Xu was a guard or respond to claims by the victim and other petitioners.

Li was unavailable for comments yesterday as her mobile phone was turned off.

A receptionist from the Juyuan Hotel told China Daily yesterday that Xu Jian, the rape suspect, checked out of the hotel about a week ago after staying there for more than three months.

She added that she was not sure if Xu is a "guard," but "guards" were often stationed at the hotel to control the movements of the people who came to Beijing to petition.

The hotel manager, surnamed Liu, told China Daily yesterday that all petitioners left the hotel after the rape incident, but he didn't deny that the hotel often housed petitioners.