TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – In a possible blow to China’s #MeToo movement, a court ruled that two former journalists had defamed a third journalist by publishing an account accusing him of sexual misconduct.
A court in the eastern city of Hangzhou ruled on Tuesday that the evidence provided by Zou Sicong and He Qian against prominent journalist Deng Fei “was not enough to allow anyone to firmly believe without hesitation that what was described had actually happened.”
The court ordered him and Zou to pay 11,712 yuan ($ 1,813) in damages. They intend to appeal the decision.
The trial was based on an article written by He that Zou published online in 2018, in which he claimed that Deng brought her to a hotel room in 2009 to discuss story ideas, then took off her clothes and tried to he kissed her and groped her.
He said that at the time, she was a 21-year-old trainee at a news magazine where Deng was the chief reporter.
The article came amid a wave of accusations, as young women across China went public with stories of sexual assault and misconduct as part of the global #MeToo movement.
However, the movement has struggled to gain attention in China, where politics, the arts and the business world remain overwhelmingly male-dominated. The allegations, both publicly and anonymously, against dozens of industry men, from the media to academia, have sparked backlash, and since 2018, at least six men have filed defamation charges against their accusers or people who contributed to the publicity of the accusations.
Deng denied the accusation, writing on his Wechat microblog that “he has never done anything so bad or bad.” He successfully requested that the details of the case be kept out of the public records in order to protect the confidentiality of third parties who might be mentioned.
“I didn’t even get a chance to find the relevant evidence to prove my innocence, and besides, since 10 years have passed, I don’t even remember this person who said he only saw me once. Deng wrote.
Throughout the trial, Zou and El said they faced a greater burden of proof under Chinese law. Although China allowed sexual misconduct as a basis for trials in 2019, the definition of such harassment remains blurred and very few cases are reported. Many have been prosecuted in labor disputes or under laws to protect their public reputation.
Tuesday’s decision could discourage others from reporting sexual misconduct in the future, defendants said.
“This is the same as telling someone who has been humiliated, who has been hurt, that if you don’t have audio or video recordings of the event, then you better hurry up and shut up,” said Zou and He’s lawyer, Xu Kai, in a statement. “The court imposed the entire burden of proof on Zou Sicong and He Qian.”
“If at that time we had the surveillance records and the police report and then in court I told Deng Fei that, then we should stand in your position as accuser,” Zou said. “This will definitely have a terrible effect.”
He said the trial was an obstacle, but she still has hope for the move.
“I want to know how far we can go with the existing legal system,” she said.
Deng did not respond to messages left on his social media accounts.
Zhou Xiaoxuan, the face of one of China’s best-known #MeToo cases, said he did not see the ruling as a defeat. “It was very brave then for He Qian to talk about it with her real name. He did this for the rights of other women. “
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This story corrects the fact that the court decision involved a civil trial, not a criminal conviction.