Chinese prosecutors are abandoning the case against former Alibaba employee accused of sexual assault

SHANGHAI, Sept. 7 (Reuters) – Chinese prosecutors drop a case against a former Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) employee accused of sexually assaulting a colleague, saying they had determined he had committed indecency forced but not a crime.

The employee, identified by his last name Wang, was arrested by police last month after an Alibaba employee posted an 11-page account on Alibaba’s intranet saying a manager and a customer assaulted her. sexually during a business trip to the city of Jinan in eastern China.

He said superiors and human resources did not take his report seriously, sparking a fierce public backlash against the e-commerce giant, which later fired Wang and suspended other executives.

Prosecutors, however, have approved the arrest of the client identified by his last name Zhang.

Jinan police have accused the two men of committing acts of forced indecency, but have not provided details. The employee she had on her account said she was mostly unconscious during the incident and woke up with the clothes removed.

Reuters was unable to contact Wang or Zhang for comment. Alibaba said in response to the prosecutors’ decision that it has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct. Jinan Hualian Supermarket, a former Zhang businessman, did not respond to a request for email feedback.

Chinese law says those who use violence or coercion to act indecently against others can be sentenced to five years in prison, but it does not define an indecent act.

Since its first appearance in August, allegations by Alibaba’s female employee have sparked many online discussions about sexual harassment in China, as well as about the culture of alcohol consumption during business meetings.

Alibaba fired 10 employees for sharing screenshots of the colleague’s account of allegations of sexual assault, Bloomberg News reported last month citing people familiar with the matter. Read more

Report by Emily Chow, Josh Horwitz and Wang Jing; Edited by Brenda Goh and Edwina Gibbs

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