Swingers given jail terms

• Source: Global Times
• [04:25 May 21 2010]
• Comments

"Abolishing the crimes of hooliganism and counter-revolution in 1997 marked a great social improvement. Otherwise, Ma and others might have been sentenced to death," Li told the Global Times.

"But the existence of the group licentiousness law shows that society has not improved as fast as was expected," she added.

Before the conviction, Li wrote on her blog, "The number of people involved in this is not big, the activity is based on mutual agreement, it does not harm other people, and it does not harm society."

He Bing, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times that group licentiousness is in itself a disputable charge, because questions remain on whether swinging is a moral issue or a legal issue.

"However, the case is a legal problem since the crime exists in criminal law," He said.

Liu Renwen, a criminal law expert at CASS, told the Global Times that the sentence is reasonable according to the current law, but he conceded that it remained disputable since the activities were carried out with the consent of all participants, without economic profits, and were held in private places.

"There should be some specific description of how to define an action as committing a crime instead of providing a general description like the current term in criminal law," Liu said.

Fang Gang, a sexologist in Beijing, told the Global Times that the case can help promote public debate and reflection within judicial circles.

"The scrapping of the group licentiousness law is only a matter of time. I believe it will be gone in 20 years," he said.

Kang Juan contributed to this story