Chinese-Canadian musician Kris Wu bags 13-yr imprisonment
A court in Beijing, China has jailed a Chinese-Canadian pop star, Kris Wu, for 13 years after being found guilty of sex crimes on Friday.
The 32-year-old singer and actor was accused of raping three women and gathering a crowd to engage in an orgy.
Wu was arrested in 2021 after being accused of date rape by a student, before 24 more victims spoke out, according to BBC.
The court ruled that he would be deported, although deportations in China usually take place after sentences are served.
According to the court, Wu raped the women “when they were drunk and did not know or not be able to resist.”
Beijing’s Chaoyang district court said Wu would serve 11 years and six months for raping three women at his home in 2020.
He also received a sentence of one year and 10 months for “gathering people to commit adultery”, the court added.
The first to accuse him was a student, Du Meizhu, who last year posted on social media that she had met Wu two years earlier when she was 17.
She said she had been invited to a party at his home, where she was compelled to get drunk and woke up on Wu’s bed the next day.
While Wu denied the claims, the victims came out to accuse him of rapacious behaviour. He was accused of inviting women to alcohol-fuelled karaoke parties.
The singer also faces a 600m yuan (£69m) tax evasion fine. State news agency Xinhua said he used a fictitious business to make false declarations about his global income.
Wu, who was born in China but has Canadian nationality, shot to fame as a member of the K-pop boyband EXO in the 2010s.
He became one of China’s biggest celebrities after carving a solo career as a singer, actor, model and variety show judge.
However, brands including Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, L’Oreal Men and Porsche have withdrawn their partnerships with Wu over the scandal.