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Life in prison for sex-party organizers

A Chinese court yesterday sentenced two people to life in prison for organizing a sex party for hundreds of Japanese tourists that caused an uproar in China, the government announced.

Twelve other people were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

The incident in September at a hotel in Zhuhai fell on a sensitive wartime anniversary and caused outrage in China. The Chinese government complained officially to Tokyo.

Chinese authorities have issued arrest warrants for three Japanese accused of organizing the sex party and asked Japan to help in detaining them, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said China also asked the international police agency Interpol to circulate the warrants, suggesting that Chinese authorities didn't know where the three were.

Xinhua identified the three Japanese as Isao Hirobe, Shunji Takahashi and Koji Fukunaga. It didn't give any other details about them or how they were involved in the incident.

According to earlier Chinese news reports, about 400 Japanese men and as many as 500 Chinese hostesses had sex at the Zhuhai International Conference Center Hotel over a three-day period that ended on Sept. 18.

That was the anniversary of a Japanese attack on a city in China's northeast in 1931 that many Chinese regard as the start of Japan's World War II invasion and occupation.

The 14 defendants -- all of them reportedly Chinese -- were charged with prostitution, soliciting, conspiracy and other offenses, according to an earlier report.

The trial began on Friday and ended Saturday amid tight security in the Zhuhai Intermediate Court. The public and nonessential court employees were barred from the courthouse by officials who cited privacy concerns.

On Wednesday, the court sentenced Ye Xiang, assistant to the hotel's general manager, and Ming Zhu to life in prison, Xinhua said. It didn't give any other details.

The hotel's deputy sales manager, Liu Xuejing, was sentenced to 15 years.

Another defendant, Zhang Junying, was sentenced to 12 years, and the 10 others received between two and 10 years in prison, the report said.

Previous Chinese news reports have described the 14 defendants as two hotel employees and 12 organizers of prostitution.

Prostitution, although illegal, is common in China and is often practiced openly in tourist hotels in major cities.

But the timing of the event in Zhuhai drew anger as word spread over the Internet in China, where many feel that Japan has failed to atone for its wartime brutality.

Many of the Japanese involved were said to be employees of a Japanese construction company that sponsored their trip.

Japan's Foreign Ministry has said the company acknowledged paying for "companions" at a reception but denies sponsoring the events that followed. Japan has launched its own investigation into the incident.

News reports have not identified the company involved, but said it was based in the western Japanese city of Osaka.
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