4 plead guilty at trial of Chinese tenor's son

A trial of a renowned Chinese tenor's teenage son, accused of gangrape, ended on Thursday at a Beijing district court. Four of the five defendants pled guilty, according to the Beijing Haidian District Court, but no more information was disclosed as privacy rules shielding juveniles prevented the court from unveiling more details. Five men were detained on Feb. 20 after a woman surnamed Yang reported to the police that she had been taken to a hotel and raped after drinking with the men in a bar on Feb. 17. Police insiders, who refused to be named, said that the son of Li Shuangjiang, dean of the music department of the People's Liberation Army Academy of Arts, is among the five suspects. The prosecutors filed rape charges against the five defendants, saying they violently forced Yang to have sex. Four of them are still juveniles and they should receive less severe punishments, said the prosecutors. "One defendant helped the police arrest his accomplices, so his punishment can be mitigated." Meetings between the defendants and their guardians were also arranged during trial breaks.