China court drops Alibaba sexual assault case

A court in China has dropped a case against a former Alibaba employee accused of sexual assault.

The district court in north-eastern Shandong province said the "forcible indecency" committed by the man_ identified as Wang_ was not a crime.

The employee was arrested last month after a female employee of Alibaba said she was sexually assaulted on a business trip.

Her allegations were shared widely on Chinese social media.

Police in the city of Jinan_ where the incident took place_ said the investigation was closed but that Wang will remain under detention for 15 days "as punishment".

The People's Procuratorate of Huaiyin city in Jinan added that Mr Wang's arrest order was not approved.

"Alibaba Group has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct_ and ensuring a safe workplace for all our employees is Alibaba's top priority" an Alibaba spokesperson told the BBC in response to news of the case being dropped.

The woman's account of the incident was published in an eleven-page document_ in which she said the manager raped her in a hotel room while she was unconscious after a "drunken night".

It prompted a social media storm on China's Twitter-like platform_ Weibo.

The woman alleged that the manager coerced her into travelling to the city of Jinan_ which is around 900km (560 miles) from Alibaba's head office in Hangzhou_ for a meeting with a client.

She accused her superiors of ordering her to drink alcohol with co-workers during dinner.

She said that on the evening of 27 July the client kissed her. She then recalls waking up in her hotel room the next day without her clothes on and with no memory of the night before.

The woman said she obtained surveillance camera footage that showed the manager had gone into her room four times during the evening.

After returning to Hangzhou_ the woman said the incident was reported to Alibaba's human resources (HR) department and senior management and that she had requested the manager be fired.

She said that human resources initially agreed to the request but took no further action.