Chinese prosecutors end investigation into rape claim against Alibaba manager

Accused served 15 days for 'molestation', says report

The People's Procuratorate of Huaiyin District, Jinan City, China, on Monday ended its investigation into a male Alibaba manager's alleged rape of a female colleague.

The cloud giant fired the manager after the woman posted her 8,000-word account of the alleged attack on the company intranet. Alibaba's HR dept had not also taken her internal complaint against the manager seriously, she added.

She said she had been raped by the manager while unconscious in her hotel room after being pressured to drink with colleagues during dinner in July. She said she woke the next day without her clothes, and got hold of security camera footage showing her manager visiting her room that evening. She also said the Alibaba client they were meeting that day had kissed her.

Now the People's Procuratorate – the local prosecutor's office – has announced on Chinese micro-blogging service Weibo that it terminated its probe on the grounds that the actions of the male manager did not constitute a crime. It also did not approve of his arrest.

The manager was, however, ordered to serve 15 days detention for "forcible indecency."

An earlier Weibo post from the procuratorate offered a version of what happened on the night, describing how the manager – who is married – accompanied the victim from the restaurant to their hotel. Along the way, the victim vomited after heavy alcohol consumption.

The manager visited the victim's room and molested her, it is said, then ordered condoms online and went to reception to pick them up. He later returned to the victim's room and left with an item of her underwear. Investigators found unopened condoms in the room.

Alibaba this week claimed it "has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct, and ensuring a safe workplace for all our employees is Alibaba's top priority."

On Weibo, a company post said it respects the findings of the investigation and the judicial process.

"We always believe in the power of justice, always believe in goodwill," the post stated. ®

Advice on safely and confidentially reporting sexual assault can be found here for UK readers, here for US readers, and here for Australian readers.