Child rapists put to death in Hubei, Shandong, Henan

Three men convicted of raping minors were executed on Tuesday after China's top court approved their death sentences.

The three rapists were Ni Duqun, Wang Xiaoshan and Sun Baochang, and their death penalties were executed by courts in the provinces of Hubei, Shandong and Henan, respectively, according to a statement released by the Supreme People's Court.

In China, death sentences handed out by lower courts must be submitted to the top court for review. After it approves the capital punishment, the lower courts can carry out the execution.

On Tuesday, the top court summarized the cases of the three men, underlining that Chinese courts prioritize the protection of children, with harsher punishments handed out to those that harm the legitimate rights and interests of juveniles.

It revealed that the convicts tricked their victims through the internet, and then took them, most from primary and middle schools, as targets for rape.

In the case in Hubei, Ni, who ran a company in the province, was found to have raped seven girls, including six under the age of 14, by luring them to meet him through QQ, an instant messaging app, from January 2017 to August 2019.

Of the victims, four were raped multiple times, and two became pregnant and miscarried.

Ni was discovered to have mentally controlled these victims and instigated them to seek other girls around 10 years old for him to rape.

In the case in Shandong, Wang was found to have raped five girls, including three under the age of 14, molested 14 others and assembled a crowd to engage in promiscuous activities, from late 2017 to January 2019.

Wang first asked the girls to send him naked photos and videos through QQ, and then told them that he would disclose the pictures if they refused to go out with him. He took the victims to hotels and raped them.

Sun, the convict in Henan, committed similar acts from October 2017 to August 2018.

In addition to luring girls and asking them to send naked pictures online, Sun was also found to film the rapes and use the content to threaten the victims to continue to have sex with him.

Before these cases, Sun had a previous rape conviction.

The top court said that the three rapists had seriously harmed the victims' physical and mental health, adding that their behaviors have had a great negative effect on society.

"Chinese courts never tolerate people damaging children's legitimate rights and interests, and for those who should be sentenced to death for extremely serious acts in line with the law, we'll give the capital penalty without hesitation," it added.

The execution of the three rapists demonstrated the country's judicial determination and effort to protect children, it said, and called for juveniles to enhance their awareness of self-protection.

Teachers, parents and cyberspace departments should strengthen supervision of the internet behaviors of juveniles, providing them with a safer online environment, it suggested.