Chinese Court Rejects Zhou Xiaoxuan's Appeal In Metoo Case Against State TV Host

Zhou Xiaoxuan came forward in 2018 to accuse well-known state TV anchor Zhu Jun of grabbing and kissing her against her will while she was an intern at the news channel in 2014.

An important sexual harassment case in China was scheduled to go back to court on Wednesday after an earlier decision severely damaged the country's budding #MeToo movement. In a recent development, the Chinese court has rejected Xiaoxuan's plea.

Zhou Xiaoxuan

Although the case of Zhou, who is now 29 years old, encouraged many women to publicly relate their stories of sexual assault and generated a social media uproar, a court determined last year that there wasn't enough evidence to support her claim. Zhou filed an appeal and showed up in court again on Wednesday in Beijing.

She admitted before the hearing, "I still feel a little scared and dejected now."She said, "The first trial's procedure was a serious secondary harm."

She stated that the focus of her legal team will be on gaining access to further evidence, such as police transcripts of her parent's post-incident interviews, which were excluded from the prior trial. They are also asking for access to security camera footage. Zhou said that although he had sued Zhu for defamation, she was not present for earlier proceedings and was unaware of subsequent developments in that case.

Zhou, who also goes by the name Xianzi, initially sued Zhu for $7,400(50,000 yuan) in damages and a public apology. Her initial hearing in Beijing in December 2020 drew a sizable crowd and a heavy police presence. Police took away reporters from foreign media organizations, including AFP, who were documenting the incident.

"The process for my case has truly been too difficult," Zhou stated. "I worry that other victims fear standing up for their rights after seeing what I've experienced."

Her action against Zhu was initially brought under the "personality rights" law, which protects a person's rights concerning their body and health.

But after it was passed in 2020, new sexual harassment legislation was requested to be applied to it by her lawyers. Despite that law, many Chinese women are reportedly still hesitant to report incidents of harassment, and cases seldom reach court in a system where the burden of proof falls heavily on the claimant.

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