Train rapist, robber gets life behind bars

Jia Xiaoming, a fugitive who was involved in several cases of robbery and rape on international trains and in Moscow in the early 1990s, was sentenced to spend the rest of life in prison on Friday.

The Beijing Intermediate Railway Transportation Court announced Jia's conviction in a statement posted on its official website.

Jia was sentenced to life imprisonment for committing robbery and all his property was confiscated. He was sentenced to spend another 15 years behind bars for committing the crime of rape.

During the trial, Jia denied the allegations that were made against him. His attorney insisted that the evidence presented to prove that he had committed robbery had been inadequate and that the charges of rape were ungrounded.

Jia, a Beijing resident, was a chief suspect in 13 robberies that were committed against Chinese citizens in Moscow and on international trains traveling between Beijing and Moscow from December 1991 to May 1993.

He is believed to have robbed more than 30 people of belongings that included $26,200, 1 million roubles - worth roughly $5,900 in 1991 - watches, necklaces and other precious objects.

Jia was also the chief suspect in the gang rape of a Chinese citizen, a crime that occurred on a train heading from Beijing to Moscow in March 1993.

During the seven-day ride, Jia and his accomplices gang raped and sexually assaulted a Chinese citizen surnamed Sun several times.

During the early 1990s, merchants in Beijing had taken up the practice of transporting daily commodities from Beijing to Moscow in the midst of what some deemed a "gold rush," making the train running between Moscow and Beijing highly attractive to criminals such as Jia.

At the time, there was no police presence on the train beyond the Chinese border, making it fairly easy to commit crimes.

Robberies became most common on the trains between May 26 and 31, 1993, when Jia and his accomplices robbed people onboard in four successive rounds, according to the website of the Procuratorial Daily.

During those six days, three female passengers were gang raped and several passengers were injured in attacks.

The Chinese railway police later investigated the case. That led to indictments for more than 60 people, more than 30 of whom have been sentenced to life imprisonment or death.

Jia has been running from the law since 1993, when Chinese police started to investigate the robbery and rape cases.

The Beijing municipal police put Jia on its online wanted list in 2002.

He was not apprehended until June 2011, when he was found in a video arcade in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn