A former police officer was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Tuesday for raping a girl of 14 and asking others to perjure themselves.
  
The Intermediate People's Court of Ningde City, east China's Fujian Province, overruled a sentence of three year's prison handed down by the subordinate People's Court of Zhouning county.
  
Chen Changchun, a former deputy director of the public security bureau of Zhouning county, raped the girl surnamed Chen on the night of May 31, 2001.
  
He raped her in a hotel room after calling her there to hear her complaint of being sexually abused by another person in a separate case.
  
The girl had reported the case to the security authorities on May 9.
  
The officer fled after the case was uncovered and was arrested on Nov. 4, 2003. He was sentenced to a three-year jail term by the local court of the county this month.
  
However, the procuratorial body believed Chen was not appropriately punished according to law. He must be severely punished because he was a police officer and assaulted an underage girl who had already been hurt, local procurators said.
  
Investigation indicated that Chen asked his chauffeur and some of his friends to lie to the court, and even paid bribes of 6,000 yuan (US$723) to the victim and her mother after the crime was reported.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2004)