R. Kelly is a "predator" who used his fame and money to abuse, deceive and physically, sexually and psychologically dominate minors, said María Cruz Meléndez, assistant federal prosecutor in the trial in Brooklyn against the famous singer.
R. Kelly, whose name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was born in Chicago, Illinois, and achieved success in the 1990s for his song
I believe I can fly
and is now charged with racketeering and sex crimes against six girls and women.
“This case is not about a celebrity who likes to party very much. This case is about a predator, ”
Meléndez assured the jury, seven men and five women whose names or details that could identify them have not been revealed, reports the news agency The Associated Press (AP).
Rapper R. Kelly in criminal court in Chicago, Illinois, on June 26, 2019. AP
According to the lawsuit, the rapper recorded sexual acts with minors, whom he “recruited” and even “transported” across state lines
, for that reason, he is also accused of violating the Mann Law, “a 1910 law that prohibits the transportation of any woman or girl over state borders for immoral acts ”, explains AP.
Kelly's lawyers have asserted that those who denounce him are "groupies who were dying to be with him."
[R. Kelly must remain in jail in times of coronavirus]
One of the alleged victims who testified this Wednesday, said that she was 16 years old when he invited her to his mansion and ordered her to remove her clothes.
She was part of the singer's fan club.
"He is a monster", assures his daughter
This is not the first time that Kelly has faced this type of complaint.
In 2008, he was acquitted of child pornography charges and, from the #MeToo movement, a boycott campaign emerged on social media under the hashtag #MuteRKelly.
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The documentary series
Surviving R. Kelly
or
Surviving R. Kelly
produced by Lifetime and that can be seen on Netflix, also collects the testimonies of women who claim to be its victims and who in some cases were “recruited” in their schools by people close to them. to the artist.
[Rapper R. Kelly is accused of soliciting sex from a 17-year-old girl]
That entourage, as the prosecution calls it, established rules such as "no talking to each other" or dictated "how they should dress and how they needed Kelly's permission before eating or going to the bathroom."
In the six episodes that make up the story, Andrea Kelly, dancer, choreographer and ex-wife of the rapper, also confesses to having suffered physical and psychological abuse.
In 2019, his eldest daughter, Buku Abi, used Instagram to dissociate herself from her father and his actions.
He called him a "monster" and insisted that "having gone through everything I went through in my life, I would never have wanted someone else to feel the pain that I felt," said the young woman.
The documentary mentions
Kelly's alleged clandestine wedding with singer, actress and model Aaliyah, when she was 15 years old
.
The marriage to Aaliyah, who died at age 22 in a plane crash, has been denied by Kelly and was mentioned Wednesday by prosecutors, who promised to prove his guilt with witnesses, DNA experts, official documents, audio and video recordings. , phone, travel and medical records, listed Telemundo's sister network NBC News.
R. Kelly leaves court in Chicago, Illinois, after pleading not guilty on June 6, 2019.
"For two decades, the company run by
R. Kelly preyed on young women and teenagers whose dreams of meeting a superstar soon turned into a nightmare
of rape, child pornography and forced labor," the prosecuting party ruled.
The trial, which is expected to last about 30 days, passes without cameras in court and without the physical presence of the media.
On the racketeering charge alone, if convicted, the 54-year-old artist could face a 20-year prison sentence.
[FBI arrests Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's former collaborator, in sex trafficking case]
Kelly, is in the Metropolitan Detention Center, in Brooklyn where the British Ghislaine Maxwell is also awaiting her own trial accused of orchestrating, along with Jeffrey Epstein, a trafficking and sexual abuse network.