Six suspects involved in a child prostitution case in Yongkang, Zhejiang province, were arrested on April 5. But Hu Liangqi, another suspect who is also village head and the People's Congress deputy of Yongkang, wasn't on the list.
According to the Yongkang public security bureau, it is still in the process of applying for the arrest approval from the procuratorate (prosecuting body) to arrest Hu.
"That was because there are extra procedures to go through to arrest a deputy to the People's Congress," explained lawyer Yang Chao with Beijing's Huawei Law Firm.
Chen Yongke, spokesman for the bureau, said on Monday that he couldn't reveal information such as names, ages and schools for people involved in the prostitution case due to privacy protection concerns, and simply referred to them as "students".
According to a local source who asked to remain anonymous, however, the students include more than 20 junior middle school students in three local schools.
"Age is the crucial element for this case as according to Chinese laws if the girls were under 14, the suspects would be charged with the crime of child prostitution," said Wu Dong, a senior partner at the Shanghai M&A Law Firm.
"In the meantime, we don't know how old these kids are, and 'junior middle school' is just the line of demarcation."
Junior middle school students are about 13 to 15 years old.
Yongkang police refused to provide details except admitting the case happened in February.
Contact the writer at shiyingying@chinadaily.com.cn
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