A British Columbia journalist has been awarded $275,000 in a defamation lawsuit following a continuous 77-day protest outside his Surrey home in 2020. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Richard Hewson issued the decision on Thursday, finding that defendant Yun Fei Zhu published defamatory statements against Bing Chen Gao. Gao testified that the demonstrations took place daily from Sept. 15, 2020, to Dec. 1, 2020, with crowds varying between 10 and 60 people. The gatherings were livestreamed for about five hours a day by Zhu, who acted as a leader for an online audience. Additional protests and livestreams occurred outside the residence from Jan. 20 to 25, 2023. During the demonstrations, protesters labeled Gao a Chinese Communist Party spy, handed out pamphlets revealing his home address, and played funeral music. The demonstrators supported Chinese tycoon Guo Wenghui, a critic of the Chinese Communist Party and founder of the New Federal State of China movement. Guo was recently sentenced to 30 years in a U.S. prison for fraud. Justice Hewson noted that views on Guo and his movement varied widely. Gao, who moved to Canada in 2004 after participating in China’s pro-democracy movement, worked as a journalist and had openly criticized Guo. Despite Gao’s history as a critic of the Chinese Communist Party, the protesters claimed he was a professional agent trained by the regime. Distributed pamphlets accused Gao of disguising himself as an anti-communism activist to spread misinformation on behalf of the party and accepting financial support from Beijing. Throughout the livestreams, participants chanted insults in English and Mandarin, calling Gao a spy, trash, and shouting that neighbors hated him. Zhu stated he temporarily stopped participating after an assault occurred in the cul-de-sac, though he returned for the 2023 demonstrations. Gao testified that the assault targeted a friend and that the prolonged ordeal severely affected his wife, young daughter, and elderly mother-in-law. Justice Hewson held Zhu liable for the defamatory remarks made by himself and other speakers during the broadcasts he published. Gao received $250,000 in general damages alongside $25,000 in aggravated damages. Furthermore, the judge issued an injunction barring Zhu from repeating the defamatory remarks and ordered him to pay $5,000 in court costs.
Source: cbc.ca
