Prison sentence doubled after rapist's retrial

Yuan Zhilei, 47, a man with HIV who raped a 15-year-old girl in Hechi, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment after a retrial on Monday, by the Hechi intermediate people's court.

Yuan, a native of Du'an county, had been sentenced previously to five years by a lower court in Hechi's Du'an county in September.

The Hechi intermediate people's court, the municipal court, launched a judicial review of the case after the verdict aroused public debate. Many thought that five years were not enough for a rapist who knew of his contagious disease before committing the crime.

Yuan was found guilty of raping a girl said to be mentally incapable of defending herself.

Guo Lingling contributed to this story.