Last September, the court found the musician, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, guilty of several charges. These include forcing minors to engage in sexual activities and transporting minors for the purpose of engaging in sexual activities.
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55-year-old Kelly, who has been in custody since 2019, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer said the verdict would be appealed.
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The indictment alleges that Kelly’s staff recruited teenage girls for sex, giving them contact information during concerts and sometimes promising that Kelly would help them become R&B stars as a producer. Girls were often deprived of their freedom and forced to engage in various sexual activities against their will, and what was happening was often filmed.
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“You taught them that love is enslavement and violence,” Judge Anna Donnelly said in handing down the sentence.
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In 2018, the BBC broadcast the documentary film “R Kelly: Sex, Girls & Videotapes”, in which suspicions were expressed that the singer is holding women and girls captive there against their will and has created a “sex cult”.
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“R. Kelly” is one of the best-known representatives of the R&B genre. He received three “Grammy” awards for his 1996 single “I Believe I Can Fly”.
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