Rape victim's mother appeals to higher court

The lawyer representing the mother of an underage rape victim in Yongzhou, Hunan Province, told the Global Times that his client filed an appeal with the Hunan Provincial Higher People's Court Tuesday hoping to overturn a lower court decision that ruled she could not sue for wrongful detention.

In August Tang Hui was ordered confined to a re-education through labor camp for 18 months after making continuous petitions. She insisted that all seven men found guilty of kidnapping and raping her 11-year-old daughter be given the death penalty. Two were sentenced to death and the others given long jail terms.

Before being detained at the labor camp Tang was never charged with a crime nor did she appear in court. The circumstances of her detention outraged experts, advocates and netizens, and she was released after being held at the camp for just eight days.

Her appeal to the provincial court on Tuesday seeks to nullify a ruling by the Yongzhou Intermediate People's Court on April 12 that favored the Yongzhou labor re-education committee.

The intermediate court dismissed her lawsuit saying it had no basis in fact or law.

Tang is demanding 1,464 yuan ($234) in State compensation for infringing her personal freedom, 1,000 yuan for mental anguish and a written apology.

"We will have to wait a month to six weeks to see if the court accepts the case. We are expecting justice to be done and will do everything we can even though the result might not be what we desire," Xu Liping, a Zhejiang-based lawyer, told the Global Times.

"Tang decided to appeal instantly after her first try was rejected by the Yongzhou court. She and her husband now support themselves with only part-time jobs and are preparing to open a small flower shop. Their daughter was infected with incurable venereal diseases after she was forced into prostitution," said Xu.

Tang's daughter was kidnapped, raped and forced into prostitution seven years ago. She was forced to perform more than 100 sexual acts before her parents managed to rescue her on December 30, 2006.