Chinese-Canadian ex-pop star Kris Wu (吳亦凡) has been jailed for 13 years after being found guilty of rape, a Chinese court said on Friday.
Wu originally shot to fame as a member of K-pop boyband EXO before leaving in 2014 to launch a successful solo career as a singer, actor, model and variety-show judge.
Nineteen-year-old student Du Meizhu (都美竹) last year accused Wu of date-raping her when she was 17, resulting in a barrage of public criticism and luxury brands dropping deals with him.
Photo: AP
Wu was sentenced to “11 years and six months of imprisonment for rape,” the court in Beijing’s Chaoyang District said, adding that he “was also sentenced to imprisonment of one year and 10 months for the crime of gathering people to commit adultery.”
“It was found that the defendant Wu Yifan [Kris Wu] had forced sexual relations with three women at his residence from November to December 2020 when they were drunk and did not know or were not able to resist,” the court said.
Wu will serve a 13-year term before being deported, it added.
He was also fined 600 million yuan (US$84 million) for tax evasion, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing Beijing’s tax authorities.
Wu “used a fake business to convert the nature of his income and falsely declare it, and evaded 95 million yuan of tax by concealing personal income through multiple domestic and overseas affiliated companies,” Xinhua reported.
He also “underpaid 84 million yuan of taxes,” the news agency said.
The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it was “aware that a decision was rendered” in the case, adding that consular officials had been present for the verdict announcement and were “providing consular assistance to Mr Wu and his family.”
A spokesperson declined to provide further information “due to privacy considerations.”
Wu was previously one of China’s most bankable stars, but brands including Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, L’Oreal Men and Porsche suspended their partnerships with him over the case.
And more victims spoke out online in the wake of the initial claims, accusing Wu’s staff of predatory behavior, including inviting them to boozy karaoke parties.
The hashtags “girls help girls,” “girls helping girls” and “girls help girls time” — where women expressed solidarity with Du — were censored from Chinese social media in the wake of the scandal.
A trending hashtag on Chinese social media — “the law is the lowest standard of morals” — also racked up 830 million views as people complained about the high legal threshold required for women to prove sexual assault in court.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
RSS