Chinese guy sentenced to prison for assaulting an employee of Alibaba while on business.

A client of Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for sexually assaulting one of its female employees on a work trip.

The victim had reportedly been compelled to consume alcohol before to the assault, according to the court in the eastern city of Jinan.

The woman was later sacked by Alibaba after she made her charges public.

Her story has garnered attention and generated a lot of discussion, bringing attention to the workplace harassment Chinese women experience. The customer intends to appeal.

In China, the great majority of sexual assault cases are never brought to court, and even fewer are ever found guilty.

While there has been sympathy for the victim, there has also been condemnation of her on social media for becoming intoxicated. There was condemnation, too, of the country’s office drinking culture and Alibaba’s handling of the situation.

Last August, an employee of Alibaba went public with her claims that the company had done nothing. She also accused a more senior coworker on the same trip of raping her. A criminal charge against him was later dismissed, but he was later fired.

In December it emerged the woman had been sacked by Alibaba, her dismissal letter alleging she had circulated falsehoods that damaged its brand.

The client Zhang Guo, who has been in detention for about a year, has around eight months left to serve of his sentence.