Chinese men jailed for raping schoolgirl under tougher underage sex attack laws

Two men have been found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl, in a landmark case at a court in Qionglai city, Sichuan province.

The ruling is the first of its kind since the end of 2013, when the Supreme Court abolished the lesser offence of procuring underage girls for prostitution.

The Chengdu Economic Daily reported that the girl had been attending a middle school near Chengdu city when she was lured away by classmates and pimps and forced to accompany the two middle-aged men.

Both men knew she was under 14, but had sex with her anyway, paying her with cash and gifts, police said.

Before the law was changed, suspects faced lighter sentences if they claimed they were ignorant of the victim's age.

Raping minors below 14 years old carries sentences of between three and 10 years in prison, depending on the age of the victims and the level of violence, according to mainland criminal law.

The two men were jailed for five years because they had voluntarily confessed and their victim had forgiven them, prosecutors said. Two pimps involved in the case were jailed for six and seven years respectively for organising prostitution.