|
 Now her case is set to go before the Chinese legal system.
The 25-year-old former intern told Reuters she had been informed
Tuesday by a court in Beijing's Haidian district that she was
being sued in a civil case for damaging Zhu Jun's reputation and
mental wellbeing.
Also named in the suit was Xu Chao, a friend who had been
championing the case online. At her request, Reuters is
withholding the name of the accuser and identifying her by her
online name, Xianzi.
Zhu is demanding that the two women apologize online and in a
national newspaper, pay compensation of 655,000 yuan
($95,254.72) and cover the costs of legal fees for the case,
according to a copy of the filing seen by Reuters.
Descriptions of Zhu forcibly kissing and groping Xianzi were
"pure fiction" and had caused "grave damage" to Zhu's public
image and his mental health, according to the filing, which was
dated Sept. 18 and is not available to the public.
In response, Xianzi applied to file her own civil suit against
Zhu on Tuesday for "infringement of personality rights", she
told Reuters. Personality rights is a broad term used within
Chinese law to refer to personal dignity rights, but does not
specifically mention sexual harassment.
"I decided that you have to use the law to prove what you said
happened," Xianzi said on Wednesday.
Zhu, 54, whose lawyers have publicly denied the allegations, did
not respond to repeated requests for comment. Zhu's lawyer
issued a statement earlier this month saying he had sued the two
women. Reached by telephone, Xu confirmed the filing of the
lawsuit.
China's justice and public security ministries did not respond
to requests for comment.
China does not have a law that specifically prohibits sexual
harassment. However, on Aug. 27 China's parliament announced
that it was considering adding provisions to a civil code,
expected to be passed in 2020, that would allow a victim to file
a civil suit against someone who uses words, actions or exploits
a subordinate relationship to sexually harass them.
The changes would also require employers to take measures to
prevent, stop and handle complaints about sexual harassment.
VAGUE LAWS, CULTURE OF SILENCE
In recent months, women have made several allegations of sexual
abuse against powerful men, including prominent university
professors, the head of China's Buddhist association, and
leading figures in the media and at non-governmental
organizations, which have reverberated across social media in
China.
That intensified with the arrest and release by U.S. police last
month of Richard Liu, chief executive of Chinese e-commerce
giant JD.com, on a rape allegation. Liu has not been charged and
through a lawyer has denied any wrongdoing.
[to top of second column] |
Up to now, vague laws, patchy implementation and a lack of
understanding among lawyers, judges, police and the public have
hampered attempts to handle cases through the courts, and
deterred many victims from filing suits, according to activist
groups.
The lack of a clear definition of sexual harassment, or an
agreed upon standard for addressing complaints, entrenches a
"culture of silence", according to the Beijing Yuanzhong Gender
Development Center, a non-profit.
The group said that while workplace sexual harassment is
widespread in China, only 34 specific cases have been logged in
the official court case database since 2010.
HOUSEHOLD NAME
Xianzi was a 21-year-old intern at the state broadcaster CCTV
when she said she met Zhu, who is famous across China for
hosting an annual spring festival extravaganza, one of China’s
top-rated programs.
In an interview with Reuters, Xianzi said that she had been
alone in a dressing room with Zhu when he asked her if she
wanted to work for the channel after her internship, before
trying to take her hand on the pretext of reading her fortune.
Despite her protests, Xianzi said, Zhu groped her under her
skirt before pulling her head and forcibly kissing her, only
stopping when interrupted by knocking on the door.
CCTV did not respond to requests for comment.
Xianzi said she was moved to act after reading accounts of
sexual assault and harassment posted on Chinese social media by
women emboldened by the country's fledgling #MeToo movement.
In July, Xianzi, now a screenwriter, wrote about her own
experience on WeChat, sharing it with a small circle of friends.
When Xu, her friend, shared the post on the Weibo platform, it
went viral.
On Tuesday, Xianzi returned to social media.
"Still a bit angry, this is Xianzi, hello everyone, I'm getting
ready for a fight," she wrote on Weibo.
($1 = 6.8763 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Joyce Zhou，Philip Wen, Christian Shepherd and Pei
Li; Additional reporting by Liangping Gao and Beijing Newsroom;
Editing by Tony Munroe and Philip McClellan)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
