China gives 2 life for Japanese sex party

BEIJING - A Chinese court sentenced a hotel worker and a prostitute to life in prison on Wednesday for organizing a three-day sex party for Japanese tourists - a case that outraged Chinese and reignited anger over Japan's wartime conduct.

Twelve other people were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison, and China said it had issued arrest warrants for three Japanese accused of organizing the event, asking Tokyo to help detain them.

According to earlier Chinese reports, the incident in September involved as many as 400 Japanese men and 500 Chinese prostitutes at a hotel in the southern city of Zhuhai.

Its final day fell on Sept. 18, the anniversary of a Japanese attack in 1931 on a city in China's northeast that Chinese regard as the start of World War II. The timing, which appeared to be coincidental, angered Chinese, many of whom believe Japan hasn't atoned for wartime brutality, including mass rapes.

All 14 convicted in the sex party case by the Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court were Chinese citizens, Xinhua reported. They included employees of the Zhuhai International Conference Center Hotel, prostitutes and pimps, known in Chinese as mami.

Those sentenced to life were Ye Xiang, assistant to the hotel's general manager, and Ming Zhu, a prostitute, Xinhua said. It said they were the main organizers of the event.

The hotel's deputy sales manager, Liu Xuejing, was sentenced to 15 years. Another defendant, prostitute Zhang Junying, was sentenced to 12 years. The 10 others received between two and 10 years in prison, Xinhua reported.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman noted that the two governments lack an extradition treaty. Japanese law doesn't allow the government to turn over any citizen to a country without such a treaty, said Kenki Okada, an official of Japan's Justice Ministry.

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