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Meredith Chen

Minutes after a Berlin court sentenced a Chinese man to five years in prison for aiding and abetting aggravated rape and sexual coercion, two women who had sat through the trial hugged each other and cried.
But the case left one of those women, named Kristina, balancing mixed emotions as she struggled to reconcile her desire to see the perpetrators punished and questions about what justice really meant in a case of this nature.
The 32-year-old accused, who was studying medicine, was jailed for five years earlier this month.
The man – who under German law could only be identified by his given name as Zhiting S. – was one of four Chinese nationals convicted and sentenced to up to 14 years in prison after investigators uncovered an online network where perpetrators exchanged tips on drugging and sexually assaulting women.
Kristina, who is studying in the German capital, was one of the many Chinese women who spent months sitting through the hearings. Some of them have criticised these sentences as too lenient.
Punishing some perpetrators does not make this kind of thinking disappear. It is like a smell in the air
Kristina, Chinese student in Berlin
She, like other observers, had a complicated reaction to the case – one shaped by anger towards the perpetrators, desire for justice and the challenge of understanding a legal system with a different approach to punishment compared with China.
The guilty men
The four convicted men were members of a Telegram group known as the “German driving school for experts”.
The eight-member group – all but one of whom was Chinese – used code words to discuss drugging and sexually assaulting women in a network that stretched from Germany to Los Angeles.
They referred to women as “cars”; finding a new victim as “looking for a car”; sedatives as “oil” or “fuel” and particularly attractive women as “luxury cars”. Sedated women were described as “dead pigs”.
They also filmed their crimes and shared recordings in encrypted online group chats to boast about their actions.
The identified victims were mostly Chinese women who were partners, colleagues, friends or acquaintances of the perpetrators. Most of them had been unaware of the assaults until they were contacted by police.
The exact number of victims remains unclear, and investigators have identified several similar online groups, one of which had around 4,500 members.
Their trials coincided with the exposure of similar sexual assault networks across Europe and North America, the most high-profile of which was the Gisele Pelicot mass rape trial in France.
The Telegram group’s activities were exposed after Dapeng Z., a 44-year-old Frankfurt-based IT engineer, was arrested in November 2024. Forensic analysis of his digital devices led investigators to other suspects.
Sizhe Weng, a former University of Southern California doctoral student, was charged last year with drugging and raping three women in the United States. Another suspect in Germany reportedly died by suicide and two others have not been publicly identified.
Dapeng Z. was sentenced to 14 years in prison for aggravated rape and attempted murder. Zhongyi J., a 28-year-old Chinese student in Munich, received more than 11 years for similar charges.

Meanwhile, Tong Z., a mechanical engineering student in Berlin, received five years and nine months for aggravated rape, grievous bodily harm and privacy violations.
German courts have described the crimes as involving a high degree of planning and appalling contempt for women.
In sentencing Zhiting S., a Berlin judge said sexual offences themselves were not new, but added: “What is new is that such crimes are not only committed, but are subsequently uploaded to the internet and applauded.”
The Munich judge who sentenced Zhongyi J. made a similar point, warning that “we have entered uncharted legal territory”.
The judge added it was “not a Chinese or French phenomenon, but also a German one. A global one”.
‘Culture shock’
For many Chinese observers, the sentences raised a different question: why were the sentences not longer?
Unlike countries such as the US that allow for consecutive sentences for separate crimes, Germany has a “total sentence” system that considers both the seriousness of the crimes and the defendant’s prospects for reintegration into society, according to Cheng Jie, an associate professor of law at the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
In the Zhiting S. case, the court took into account “extensive identifying and prejudicial” media coverage in China, saying the “personal consequences” had been “particularly severe”. He is now appealing against his sentence.
“A lengthy prison sentence, combined with media exposure, professional damage and social exclusion, may leave a defendant with little chance of reintegrating into society after release,” Cheng wrote in an article published in Southern Weekly.
“German courts may therefore, within the limits of the defendant’s culpability, consider a less severe sentence to avoid permanently cutting someone off from society.”
The Federal Court of Justice, Germany’s highest court for civil and criminal matters, has ruled that media reports that prejudged and helped to identify a defendant would be seen as a mitigating factor in sentencing, Lisa Jani, a spokeswoman for the Berlin courts, said in an interview.
Not to do so meant that the verdict might not survive an appeal.
“In Germany, the courts are responsible for finding someone guilty and [delivering] a verdict in a fair trial – not the media,” she said.
A Chinese criminal lawyer who specialises in sexual violence cases said the German court’s sentencing and reasoning initially came as a “culture shock” to her because of the “quite different” legal climate in China.
“The presumption of innocence is a principle of modern justice that is broadly recognised around the world,” the lawyer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“While in Germany, it has been fully embedded in the legal system, in China it is discussed and emphasised much less, and it does not translate into consistent judicial practice.”
In some cases, the Chinese authorities were inclined to identify criminal suspects before a verdict was reached, and people might be more accustomed to extensive public discussion beforehand, she added.

For Kristina, the case highlighted these different approaches to justice.
She had initially hoped the defendants would receive the harshest punishment possible. But as she followed the proceedings, her expectations gradually shifted.
She recalled how devastated she felt when the defence lawyer for Zhiting S. submitted an eight-page press dossier containing Chinese and German media coverage and social media discussions about the case, fearing it would benefit the defendant.
By the end of the trial, she no longer saw the five-year sentence – the maximum sought by prosecutors – as disappointing but perhaps the best outcome the legal system could deliver.
Questions of justice
Kristina said she would not simply say whether “justice” had been done or not, because “justice means different things to different people and within different cultural contexts”.
But she argued that based on her understanding of the men and China’s legal and social environment, these relatively light sentences would not necessarily change them.
While she understood Germany’s emphasis on rehabilitation, she warned: “The weight or significance of this system may be in question when it is applied to someone who grew up in China.”
In the cases of Dapeng Z. and Zhongyi J., the sentences included a legal measure known as sicherungsverwahrung, which allows for their continued detention after the end of their jail term if they are deemed to pose a continued threat.
“What shocked me was that victim support was still very difficult to achieve,” said the Chinese lawyer.
“In some ways, this criminal trial can feel like the authorities have carried out their duty to prosecute a crime and complete a task, but providing meaningful support for the victim, who bears the deepest harm, is much harder. This is a global issue.”
Although existing laws may allow offenders to be prosecuted after they return to China, she said the country lacked specific legal provisions to address both sexual assaults where the victim had been drugged and in cases where technology was used to facilitate the crime.

Kristina said she remained pessimistic about whether punishment alone could address this problem.
She has launched an online petition together with other Chinese women in Germany, calling for legal and policy changes in the country, seeking tougher penalties for drug-assisted sexual assaults, recognition of misogynistic motives and stronger risk assessments.
The petition has so far gathered close to 3,500 signatures.
“I still feel a sense of despair,” Kristina said.
“Punishing some perpetrators does not make this kind of thinking disappear. It is like a smell in the air – something that spreads through society and eventually takes hold of certain people, leading them to commit these acts.”
.


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Crime

Were the German courts too soft on Chinese members of drug rape network?

A Chinese doctor, pictured covering his face, has been jailed for five years by a Berlin court over aiding and abetting aggravated rape and sexual coercion. Photo: AP

A Munich-based member of the network was jailed for 11 years. Photo: AP

The case was the latest example of sexual abuse networks to come to light. Photo: dpa

The German courts place a greater emphasis on rehabilitation compared with China. Photo: AP 

Chinese student on trial in Germany for raping sedated partner, echoing Pelicot case

Munich Regional Court. Photo: Shutterstock

The German case echoes that of French woman Gisele Pelicot.  Photo: AP

In China, is ‘family’ becoming a legal shield for rape?

The woman (left) had lost contact with her family for more than a decade. Photo: Handout

Bu has an advanced university degree but has struggled with mental health. Photo: Handout

News

China

Politics

The sentencing of four men to up to 14 years in prison has highlighted a very different approach to justice compared with China


The sentencing of four men to up to 14 years in prison has highlighted a very different approach to justice compared with China.


China-Germany relations

Germany

Were the German courts too soft on Chinese members of drug rape network?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The sentencing of four men to up to 14 years in prison has highlighted a very different approach to justice compared with China

The sentencing of four men to up to 14 years in prison has highlighted a very different approach to justice compared with China