A vice-president of a Party school in Shaanxi Province has been suspended from his post after nude photos of him were released online and a woman claimed they had been having an affair which turned violent.
Qin Guogang, vice-president of the Party School of the Shaanxi Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has been suspended from his post, according to a statement on the school's official website.
A female postgraduate student from the Party school, surnamed Li, published a collection of photos online showing a man resembling Qin naked on a bed, as well as her student identity certificate, on Monday through her Sina Weibo account, the woman's lawyer, Qu Jianguo, confirmed to the Global Times.
Qu, a Shaanxi-based lawyer, who represented Li, a 35-year-old single mother of a girl, said that Li began studying at the Party school in 2011 and started the relationship with Qin in August, 2012.
"These photos were still pictures from a video shot on August 13, 2013, the day of China's traditional equivalent to Valentine's Day, Qixi Festival, in the woman's residence," Qu was quoted as saying by The Beijing News.
Li submitted the hour-long sex video and other related materials to the disciplinary authorities on Wednesday, Qu told the Global Times. "Qin was aware the video was being taken," Qu added.
"Qin lied to me about being married and said that we would get married," Li wrote on her Weibo account, adding that she was called to Qin's office while his wife was there, and they both beat her.
Photos showing a woman's face, red and swollen, and a head wrapped in gauze were posted alongside the nude photos on Li's account. A medical record posted on Qu's Weibo account showed that the assault took place on December 20, 2013, and Qu is representing her in the injury case which is still under police investigation.
Qu said Li is in a very unstable and fragile state and was not available for comment.
Qin has also handed over materials on the case to the provincial authorities.
Besides condemning Qin's behavior, a lot of Net users also questioned Li's judgment as a student, a grown-up and a mother. "You should be mature enough to know if you are being lied to," one of the many posts read.
Several similar cases involving officials being brought down by sexual scandals exposed by mistresses stirred public debate last year. In January 2013, Yi Junqing, former director of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, was fired after his extramarital relationship was exposed by his mistress, Chang Yan, a post-doctorate student, via a diary.