Senior British politician charged with sexual offences
A deputy speaker of Britain's parliament has been charged with several counts of sexual assault as well as rape, authorities said on Tuesday.Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said enough evidence had been gathered to prosecute Nigel Evans, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, for eight offences.
Fifty-five year old Evans, who has been the MP for Ribble Valley in Lancashire in northern England since 1992 and was arrested twice earlier this year, has denied any wrongdoing.
"Lancashire Constabulary has ... been authorised to charge two counts of indecent assault, five counts of sexual assault and one count of rape relating to a total of seven alleged victims," the prosecution service said in a statement.
The assaults, dating from 2002 until 2013, were all on men.
Without citing sources, the BBC said Evans had resigned as deputy speaker but this could not immediately be verified.
Evans was detained in May on suspicion of rape and sexual assault but said the allegations were "completely false".
Police said he was arrested for a second time in June.
One of parliament's three deputy speakers since 2010, Evans' role includes keeping order during often fractious debates, calling on members to speak and enforcing the rules of the lower House of Parliament.
Evans, who told a newspaper in 2010 that he was gay, was vice chairman of the Conservative party from 1999 to 2001 and shadow Welsh Secretary for two years after that while the Conservatives were in opposition.
He is due to appear before Preston Magistrates Court on Sept. 18.
据英国媒体报道，英国国会下议院副议长奈杰尔•埃文斯被控性侵和强奸而于9月10日第三次被捕后宣布辞职。
当天，55岁的埃文斯在普雷斯顿警察局接受了长时间审讯。他离开警察局时就昏暗的天空对记者开玩笑说：“现在还是周二（9月10日）吗？”
他接着说：“我此时此刻可以向每个人保证，我将坚决捍卫我的清白。在遭到可疑指控后，我今天缴纳了保释金。对于这起案子今天还未结束我感到悲哀。我可以肯定两件事，第一我是清白无辜的，第二，我的清白将大白于天下。”
他表示已经通知其他同事，辞去副议长职务，但将继续保留议员身份。
英国皇家检察署表示已搜集到足够的证据起诉埃文斯8项罪行，包括2起猥亵，5次性侵和1次强奸，受害者7人，均为20多岁的年轻男性。这些行为被指发生在2002年到2013年，其中强奸行为据称就发生在今年年初。
英国总检察长基尔•斯塔梅尔说：“继兰开夏警方展开调查后，皇家检察署收到了奈杰尔•埃文斯议员性侵的证据。经过仔细考虑，我们认为证据是充分的，且起诉埃文斯符合公共利益。”
埃文斯今年早些时候曾两度被捕，第一次是在5月，第二次是在6月，但他矢口否认自己有任何不当行为。
埃文斯将于9月18日出庭受审，若罪行成立，最高可判终身监禁。对他的审判预期在明年春或夏初进行，这将是保守党战略家的主要关注事务，因为届时2015年英国大选迫在眉睫。
2010年，埃文斯曾向媒体公开他是同性恋，他说自己“疲于生活在谎言里”。他曾说他的政敌曾以曝光此来对他进行威胁。
埃文斯16岁加入了保守党，1992年起任议员，1999到2001年出任保守党副主席。2010年。他成为英国国会下议院3名副议长之一，职责包括在激烈辩论中维持秩序，敦促成员发言，执行下议院规则。
（译者 闻竹 编辑 王琦琛）
