American singer R. Kelly, R&B star of the 90s and 2000s and convicted in September 2021 of having led for years a “system” of sexual exploitation including adolescents and adolescent girls, was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 years in prison. jail.
The heavy sentence against the 55-year-old singer was handed down in federal court in Brooklyn, where his trial nine months ago lifted the lid on sex crimes in the black community in the United States. .
According to journalists present at the hearing, the singer known worldwide for his hit “I Believe I Can Fly” did not say a word when the verdict was announced.
In their last indictment, the federal prosecutors demanded at least 25 years of criminal imprisonment because of the “danger” that R. Kelly, whose real name Robert Kelly, would represent for his victims and for public opinion. The US prosecutor’s office found him to be “an impudent, manipulative, controlling and coercive, showing no signs of remorse or respect for the law”.
Rape, imprisonment, forced drug taking
Nine women and two men accused him of having sexually abused them, describing rape, forced drug taking, situations of imprisonment or even child pornography.
The singer, who said he was raped himself when he was eight years old, was found guilty at the end of September 2021 of all the charges: extortion, sexual exploitation of a minor, kidnapping, trafficking, corruption and forced labor, on a period from 1994 to 2018. He has always denied the facts.
>> More details in our article: Singer R. Kelly found guilty of sex crimes
Throughout his trial, the former R&B star had remained silent and had shown no particular emotion at the statement of his guilt, contenting himself with lowering his head and closing his eyes. Already in detention and awaiting another federal trial in Chicago in August, R. Kelly hoped, via his lawyers, for a maximum sentence in New York of 17 years in prison.
Victims seduced after concerts
The trial had exposed the “system” of R. Kelly to attract very young women and sexually assault them, with the complicity of those around him, as in a kind of mafia enterprise, according to the prosecution.
Many victims had recounted their meeting with their idol during concerts after which they were slipped a small piece of paper with the singer’s contact details. He would do something for their musical career, they were promised. Instead, they were “indoctrinated” into R. Kelly’s “sordid” milieu, coerced into sex, and kept in that “system” by “coercive measures,” according to the prosecution.
A verdict that will remain as an example
Six women were the main accusers, some of whom claimed to have been drugged to be raped, kidnapped, forced to have abortions and infected with sexually transmitted diseases.
For lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents three of the six plaintiffs, the verdict against R. Kelly – the day after the 20 years in prison pronounced by the Manhattan court against the ex-British businesswoman Ghislaine Maxwell for sex trafficking of minors – should serve as an example for celebrities who use their “notoriety to prey on their fans”.
>> Read also: Twenty years in prison for Ghislaine Maxwell, associate of Jeffrey Epstein
afp/vic