Saving face may be a key element of China’s culture — particularly for the country’s women — but this is one case where somebody has got to speak out.

In Anhui Province, a man has filed an appeal for the numerous rapes, thefts, and robberies he is charged with committing over a 17 year period. Liu Qingpeng, 46, has gone largely unchallenged by his victims because they are too humiliated to admit they had been raped, a police officer told the Xing’an Evening Post.

According to reports by the Fuyang City Intermediate People’s Court, Liu would don a mask and break into homes wielding a knife. His victims were usually wives left alone in their village after their husbands had left for work, but also reportedly included teenagers, old women, and pregnant women.

Anhui News reports that Liu’s family and neighbors do not believe he has committed these crimes. According to his wife Chen Yun (pictured above), Liu stays home to care for his 86-year-old mother. Police claim that this is merely an alibi for covering up his crime sprees.

Something tells us that this guy’s appeal will be unsuccessful. Still, what’s most troubling is that the victims can’t even express their own distress.

(via Shanghai Daily and Sohu; image via iFeng)