HAIKOU - A former school principal and government clerk who raped primary school girls in hotels in May were respectively sentenced to 13 and half and 11 and half years in jail on Thursday.

The trials were held behind closed doors.

The No 1 Intermediate People's Court of Hainan province said it heard the cases of Chen Zaipeng, the former principal of Wanning No 2 Primary School, and Feng Xiaosong, a former clerk at the city's property administration bureau.

Both men have been charged with rape, and the cases were accepted by the court on June 9.

The court said the trials were fair and abided by the due process of law.

The two men were arrested in May on suspicion of child molestation. Chen stood accused of taking four girls to a hotel, while Feng allegedly took two girls to another hotel on the evening of May 8, according to local police.

The girls were all in the sixth grade and aged between 11 and 14.

Feng said he would appeal, while Chen said he needed time to consider whether to appeal or not.