A Beijing court has dismissed an appeal by a plaintiff in a high-profile Chinese sexual harassment case involving a well-known host of state broadcaster CCTV, a decision likely to cause a blow to China's MeToo movement.
Zhou Xiaoxuan, 29, accused one of the top entertainment show hosts of CCTV, Zhu Jun, of groping and forcibly kissing her in 2014 when she was an intern for him, allegations he denies.
Zhou's accusations, posted on social media in 2018, quickly went viral and she sued Zhu for damages that year. In September 2021, after two closed-door hearings, Haidian People's Court, a district court in the Chinese capital, rejected her claims due to insufficient evidence.
Zhou vowed to appeal. After a closed-door trial, the Beijing Municipal No. The 1 Intermediate People's Court said late on Wednesday it rejected all of Zhou's appeals and upheld the original judgment. The court held that the evidence submitted by the appellant Zhou was not sufficient to prove that Zhu had sexually harassed her, and that the appeal could not be substantiated, the court said on its official Weibo account.
If new evidence is discovered, Zhou can apply for an appeal.
On Tuesday, Zhou posted a video on her WeChat account, a day before the verdict was announced, in which she said she hoped people would not be discouraged.
I have no regrets about standing up to all this, and I know that all painful feelings and hardships are precious, and I hope that you are like me, but still believe that everything has meaning. In 2018, China's MeToo movement took off when a college student accused her professor of sexual harassment. It has spread to NGOs, media, and other industries.