High court review for rape victim's mother

CHANGSHA - A high court in central China's Hunan province is to review attempts by the mother of a rape victim to sue a local authority for imprisoning her after she protested the sentences given to her daughter's violators.

The Hunan Provincial People's High Court said on Sunday that it has accepted plaintiff Tang Hui's bid to have her appeal on the matter heard.

It did not specify a date for the review of the case of Tang, who last year was briefly placed in a re-education-through-labor camp over her protests.

Tang appealed to the high court on April 30 to overturn a judgement made earlier that month by the Intermediate People's Court of the city of Yongzhou. It had ruled against her lawsuit demanding the local re-education through labor commission apologize and pay her 2,463.85 yuan ($399.5) in compensation for the time she spent in the camp.

In October 2006, Tang's then 11-year-old daughter was kidnapped, raped and forced into prostitution. She was rescued on December 30, 2006.

On June 5 last year, the Hunan Provincial People's High Court sentenced two of the girl's kidnappers to death. Four others were given life sentences and another received a 15-year term.

Tang petitioned for harsher punishments for those found guilty.

But she was put into a labor camp in Yongzhou for "seriously disturbing social order and exerting a negative impact on society" during her protesting in front of local government buildings on August 2, 2012.

She was sentenced to 18 months in the camp, but was released eight days later amid a public outcry urging her release.

On January 22, Tang filed a lawsuit at the Intermediate People's Court in Yongzhou in which she asked for 2,463.85 yuan in compensation, the same amount specified in her appeal. Her case was heard on January 28, with courtroom proceedings lasting one day.

On April 12, the court ruled that Tang was not entitled to the compensation she requested.