The Supreme People’s Court

CHINA: MAN EXECUTED FOR ABDUCTING AND RAPING A 10-YEAR-OLD GIRL

February 3, 2021:

The Qinzhou Intermediate People's Court in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on 2 February 2021 carried out the execution of Yang Guangyi, who raped a 10-year-old girl.
Yang, a native of Guangxi, used cruel and violent means to rape the girl, who was on her way home after picking passion fruit to sell in Qinzhou, in 2018. The girl died as a result.
He was sentenced to death for rape by the intermediate court in 2019, but the sentence was changed to a suspended death sentence last year after he appealed, as the Guangxi High People's Court said Yang turned himself in after the rape and thus deserved to be granted some leniency.
The victim's mother appealed and in November the top court ordered the high court to set up a new panel to retry the case.
After the retrial, the high court withdrew its previous ruling, saying Yang was not eligible for lenient punishment because he raped the girl by extremely cruel means, and his action had brought great negative effects to society.
The top court acknowledged the new verdict, saying those who seriously harm children must be harshly punished, including being given the death sentence, under Chinese law.
It also said the approval of Yang's death penalty showed the country's strong determination to deter people from sexually assaulting juveniles.
Before the execution, the intermediate court told Yang that he had the right to apply for a meeting with his relatives, but Yang refused, the top court added.