China executes teacher for raping pupils
An elementary school teacher has been executed for raping and abusing 19 students aged less than 14 years, Chinese state media reported Wednesday.
Li Feng was executed immediately after he received his sentence from the Higher People’s Court of Jinlin province on Tuesday, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The death penalty in China is usually carried out by shooting the condemned in the back of the head.
The court found Li had begun sexually abusing his pupils in August 1998, when he was aged 21, shortly after he joined the school in the city of Tonghua.
His assaults were only exposed four years later when he moved to another class where his new students rejected his advances.
Angry parents demand compensation
Under Chinese law, any sexual assault on a youth less than 14 years old is considered as rape. Li was accordingly charged with rape and sexual assault on all 19 students. He had full intercourse with nine of his victims.
The court also sentenced his father, Li Fuchen, to two years in prison for helping his son avoid arrest.
Meanwhile, the outraged parents of 13 of the victims have launched legal action against the school, saying the school authorities should have exposed Li’s activities.
They are demanding 130,000 yuan ($15,600) in compensation, Xinhua reported.
China executes more people than the rest of the world combined, according to London-based human rights Amnesty International.