Chinese prosecutors said former Alibaba employees did not sexually assault business and economic news

The ruling ignited anger online and sparked controversy over the treatment of female employees in Chinese companies.

Chinese prosecutors dropped the charges against a former Alibaba Group Holding Co. employee who was accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague, saying they had determined that he had committed violent indecent assault, but did not constitute a crime.

The employee surnamed Wang was detained by the police last month after a female colleague posted an 11-page account on Alibaba’s intranet, saying that a manager and a customer had a business trip in Jinan, eastern China. She committed a sexual assault.

She said that her superiors and the human resources department did not take her report seriously, which triggered strong public opposition to the e-commerce giant. Later, the e-commerce giant fired Wang and suspended other executives.

According to a statement issued by the Jinan City Police on Weibo, the Jinan City Prosecutor did not approve the arrest of Wang, even though he was in administrative detention for 15 days. However, the prosecutor has approved the arrest of the client named Zhang.

Reuters could not reach Wang or Zhang for comment.

“At dawn,” Wang’s wife wrote on Weibo on Tuesday.

Online anger

According to CCTV reports, prosecutors are investigating whether to prosecute Wang for a crime that roughly translates to “forced indecency,” which is a broad category that includes sexual assault, but not rape. However, they said that Wang’s actions did not constitute a criminal offense, so the local police detained Wang as an administrative punishment of “indecent indecent”, which could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 days. The plaintiff can file a civil lawsuit separately.

The ruling late Monday sparked outrage on the Internet and sparked controversy over the treatment of female employees in Chinese companies. The #MeToo movement has not been as widespread in China as in countries like the United States. The police statement triggered more than 10,000 comments on Weibo, and many users questioned the decision and expressed anger at the failure to protect women.

“Received message: Sexual assault on women will not put you in jail,” a Weibo user wrote. “This guy should start a training course: how to perform compulsory indecency that is not a crime,” another said.

In response to the prosecutor’s decision, Alibaba stated that it has a zero tolerance policy for sexual misconduct.

Bloomberg reported last month, citing people familiar with the matter, that Alibaba fired 10 employees because they shared screenshots of the female colleague’s description of sexual assault allegations.