The harsh decision against the 55-year-old singer came in a federal court in Brooklyn, where nine months ago her trial removed the veil on sex crime cases in the community of blacks in the United States.
According to journalists who attended the court session, the world-famous singer did not say a word when announcing the verdict on his song “I Believe I Can Fly”.
In the most recent indictment, Brooklyn federal court prosecutors requested at least 25 years in prison for the “danger” posed by R. Kelly, whose real name is Robert Kelly, to his victims and the community.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office found that he was “a rude and manipulative individual who relies on control and coercion and shows no sign of remorse or respect for the law.”
During the six weeks of the trial in August and September, prosecutors described the singer as a “criminal and stalker”.
Nine women and two men accused her of sexual harassment, talking about rape, forced drug use, detention or even child pornography.
The man, who says he was raped at the age of eight, was convicted on all charges including extortion, sexual exploitation of minors, kidnapping, human trafficking, corruption and forced labor between 1994 and 2018. Note that he always denies this fact.
Throughout the trial, star R. Kelly was silent and did not respond to his beliefs in any way, just lowering his head and closing his eyes.
R. Kelly is already incarcerated and awaiting another federal trial in Chicago in August 2022. Through his attorney, he hopes the maximum sentence in New York is 17 years in prison.
This lawsuit is considered a milestone in the Me Too movement because it is the first time most black female plaintiffs have faced a black actress.
According to Kennett Barnes, who launched the hashtag “Mutt R. Kelly” (Silence R. Kelly) in 2017, the same year the “MeToo” movement began after exposing scandals with former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, the American judiciary for the first time allowed to give an echo of the “blood, sweat, and tears of black women” that American society did not yet want to see.
The court revealed R. Kelly’s “system” to seduce and rape very young girls in collusion with his entourage, which, according to prosecutors, resembles mafia activities. Several victims told stories about their meeting with their favorite star at concerts, then they were given a piece of paper with the singer’s address and contact numbers. The girls were promised help in their music careers.
Instead, they were “inserted” into R. Kelly’s environment was “dirty”, forced to have sex and kept in this “system” with the help of “forced measures”, according to the prosecution.
The main allegations came from six women, some of whom claimed to have been drugged for rape, detained for several days, forced to have an abortion, and contracted STDs.
Attorney Gloria Allred, representing three of the six plaintiffs, said the conviction of R. Kelly after a 20-year Manhattan court jailing former British socialite Gilan Maxwell for sex trafficking in minors age should be “a lesson for celebrities.” fame for harassing their fans. ”
Source: Al-Akhbar
