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BEIJING - A FORMER Chinese lawmaker has been sentenced to death for raping over 20 middle-school girls as part of a superstitious practice to prolong his virility, state press said on Wednesday.
Wu Tianxi, 61, a member of the national parliament between 1998 and 2003, was sentenced to death by a court in central China's Henan province on Tuesday, the People's Daily reported on its website.
'Police investigators found that from spring 2005, Wu Tianxi began searching for virgin girls with the help of a young woman surnamed Liu,' the report said.
'For the following two years, Wu Tianxi laid his black hands on over 20 young middle school girls.' He was arrested in April last year, it said.
Liu was also sentenced to 20 years for her part in the crimes. According to previous news articles, she was also reported as a former victim of Wu.
'As Wu Tianxi was getting old he believed that he could reinvigorate himself and enjoy a long life if he could capture the female essence and reinvigorate his masculinity,' the report said, citing an old Chinese superstition.
'His goal was to bed 100 virgins.' Prior to his arrest Wu had an illustrious career. In 2002 he was named one of Henan's top entrepreneurs and appointed to a county-level advisory body run by the ruling Communist Party.
His death sentence was at least the third such penalty handed down by a Chinese court on Tuesday
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