Canadian pop star given 13-year sentence for rape

A Beijing court sentenced the Chinese-born Canadian pop star Kris Wu to 13 years in jail after finding him guilty of crimes including rape, just over a year after his arrest in China, where he was born and built a lucrative career.

The court in Chaoyang district said investigations showed that in 2020 Wu, also known as Wu Yifan, raped three women.

A former member of the K-pop group Exo, the superstar returned to China in 2014 to pursue a solo career. He was detained in Beijing in July 2021 after an 18-year-old Chinese student publicly accused him of inducing her and other girls, some aged under 18, to have sex.

Wu was also ordered to pay 600m yuan ($83m) for hiding income and other tax-related offences, the tax bureau said.