A client of Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for sexually assaulting a female employee on a work trip.
The court in the eastern city of Jinan heard that the woman was forced to drink alcohol before the attack.
Alibaba later fired the woman after making her allegations public. Her case made headlines and sparked a lot of commentary highlighting the harassment of Chinese women in the workplace. The customer plans to appeal.
While there has been sympathy for the victim, there is also criticism on social media for her drunkenness. The country’s office also condemned the drinking culture and Alibaba’s handling of the matter.
The Alibaba employee went public last August, saying the firm had failed to take action. He also accused another senior colleague of raping her on the same trip. He was then dismissed, but a criminal case against him was later dropped.
In December it emerged that the woman had been fired by Alibaba after her dismissal letter said she spread lies that damaged her reputation. Client Zhang Guo, who has been in custody for nearly a year, has about eight months left to serve his sentence.
State media outlet Global Times reported that the Jinan Huayin District People’s Court found her guilty of “forcible indecency, sexually assaulting the victim against her will while she was intoxicated.”
The Global Times said the court found that the attacks took place over two days – during their first meeting at a restaurant “and then in Zhou’s hotel room the next day”.