"There is a feeling that I am defeated." Xianzi described his feelings when he lost the first instance in 2021[Note 1] and sorted out the appeal of the second instance. At that time, she kept recalling the scene where she was interrupted by the judge and attacked by the opposing lawyer. "There is no day that can be taken away."

On August 1, 2022, Xianzi learned from her lawyer that she v. Zhu Jun's general personality rights dispute (sexual harassment damage liability dispute) case will be held at the second instance of the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court at 2 pm on the 10th. With both the public account and Weibo banned, Xianzi made the news public through Moments two days before the trial.

Some people on the Internet attacked Xianzi for gaining fame by suing Zhu Jun, but Xianzi himself understood as a party: "Influence cannot change your (situation) in court." At this time, it has been four years since she filed the lawsuit. Facing the trial, she no longer has the excitement of "finally coming", but only feels that she is "going to be tortured again".

Friends on WeChat contacted her after seeing the news, saying they wanted to go to the scene to express their support. Xianzi tried to dissuade them, because she was afraid that someone would be taken away to "drink tea". The possibility of changing the sentence in the second instance is not high. She does not know whether an appeal that is "inevitable to fail" is "worth the (feminist) community paying so much more."

a "party"

At 2 a.m. on August 10, Xianzi had just finished writing a 3,000-word trial speech. Because of long-term insomnia, she finally fell asleep until 7 o'clock, and only slept for more than 3 hours. At 12 noon, she went to court accompanied by family and friends.

The streets around the court have been cordoned off. Before 1 p.m., Xianzi saw more than a dozen supporters waiting for him at Wanda Plaza, one street away. Some of them wore rabbit ears symbolizing "#Metoo" Headgear serves as a veiled identification. The domestic media did not show up, and Xianzi saw a familiar reporter friend, but she did not come for an interview, but just showed her support as an individual. In addition, there were only a few foreign media reporters at the scene. Xianzi also noticed that "there are many police officers" at the entrance of the shopping mall.

Police cars were parked on the side of the square near the courthouse. At around 1:40, one of the supporters, Mulan, led Xianzi and others to the side of the mall, in the gap between a merry-go-round and the building, and accepted media shots in a somewhat tense atmosphere. Xianzi held the freshly received flowers in her hands, and several supporters spread out the slogan "Mitu" behind her. They held the golden letter balloons used for the party to form the pinyin of "Come on".

A foreign male reporter laughed. Mulan whispered, "It's really like a party." She prepared the balloons a day in advance, because she was worried that bringing too many banners would attract the attention of the police. Xianzi made a short speech before the court, expressing the hope that the sexual harassment suffered by women in closed spaces will be taken seriously by the judiciary. During the process, there were plainclothes wandering around, filming the participants, and interrupting the embrace of Xianzi and others.

Supporters watched Xianzi walk towards the court, followed by several plainclothes officers. Someone shouted at the back of her leaving: "Come on, Xianzi, we love you." When Xianzi turned her head, her voice came from afar: "I love you too."

After the "party" ended, everyone popped the balloons in their hands and quickly put them away together with the slogan. Mulan was a little sad. She hoped to leave some testimony, but within five minutes after the photo was taken, they had to personally destroy the things they had prepared in order to "not cause trouble to each other". She also expected that the photos and videos recording this scene would be deleted soon, but she still tried her best to forward them on WeChat.

One girl hugged other supporters as she had to rush back to work and couldn't wait until the trial was over. She said that she came to the scene every time the court was held, the first time she arrived very late, and the second time she and her partner were dispersed by the police, so this time she was very eager to connect with other people emotionally. She trembled when hugged. Some people tried to find familiar faces: "Is the little girl who cried at the end of the last (first trial) here today?"

On the way, Xianzi met a long-time friend who "witnessed this incident from beginning to end". She couldn't control her emotions at this time, walked over to her friend and hugged her friend, saying "I want to cry so much". Friends walk with her. Other supporters waited for her near the cordoned-off area outside the courthouse. There is a girl who has been arguing with the police because they won't allow her to stand there. Xianzi went over and patted her on the shoulder, the girl froze for a moment, stopped entangled with the police, and followed behind them.

Xianzi was very touched: "We dare not say anything in front of the police. But as long as we look at each other, we will recognize each other." Friends have accompanied Xianzi to the last cordon.

Inside and outside the courtroom

After 2 p.m., supporters scattered in different fast food restaurants and coffee shops, and new people joined one after another. Once they suspected that there were plainclothes around them, they began to look for the next "safe place".

The 24-year-old Xia Luo is one of them. Because of her attention to the case, she and Xianzi have changed from netizens to friends in life. Charlotte estimated that there were at least a hundred supporters at the scene, but the escalation of the police blockade caused "everyone did not find each other". She felt angry and ridiculous about the police’s “going to war” for a client in a sexual harassment case: “With so many manpower, what’s wrong with doing something?”

Sisi, who just graduated from a bachelor's degree, "recognized" Xiaoni, a 30-year-old "working party" near the court. They all came alone, because they didn't know the location of the others, so they couldn't see Xianzi before the trial. April 4 was surrounded by five or six policemen more than 100 meters away from the court, demanding to check his ID card. She lied that she came to find a friend and went the wrong way, "otherwise they would never let me go."

Xiao Ni wandered around the court, and when she saw "similar people", she stepped forward and asked, "Are you here to support Xianzi?" Everyone answered "Yes". She saw a boy being pushed and dragged by the police for 20 to 30 meters because he refused to leave the gate of the court. After gathering with other supporters in the shopping mall, Xiao Ni was still a little nervous: "It's the first time I've seen so many scenes of martial law." "Before (the first trial) I saw everyone together to support, and there was a sense of unity, but today It’s very scattered, and I don’t know what to do.”

Inside the court, the actions of Xianzi and his lawyers were strictly monitored, and a pair of bailiffs followed him to the door when they went to the bathroom, "like being in prison." On the materials she brought into the court was a hand-painted "Mitu" post-it note, which was posted by a friend to encourage her, but was asked by the bailiff to tear it up before the trial.

Xianzi pointed out in the trial that the court of first instance violated legal procedures by refusing to collect some evidence, refusing to notify Zhu Jun to appear in court, refusing expert assistants to appear in court, refusing to provide surveillance video of the corridor at the time of the incident and notes of Xianzi’s parents. The public security organ did not provide any written materials after she called the police, including the acceptance receipt, the notice of filing the case or the notice of not filing the case, and the receipt of written physical evidence. The possibility of finding out the facts of the case was completely cut off, and the facts of the case were locked in the incomplete files and explanations provided by the public security organs that did not conform to objective facts.”

In the second instance, she submitted a civil judgment of a sexual harassment case in Guangdong Province to the First Intermediate People's Court in 2019, which mentioned: In the case that the police did not close the case, the court found that after the incident, the female employee called the police and reported to her family. The act of narrating the incident can be verified, but taking the risk to report a false case is not in line with "normal people's behavior habits and common sense in society"; combined with the fact that the man cannot provide evidence and his behavior is contrary to common sense, based on the high probability of civil cases[Note 2 ] principle, to determine the facts of obscenity. This is in stark contrast to the attitude of the court of first instance in the Xianzi case.

Xianzi hopes that the judge will refer to this precedent. She believes that her case is just an ordinary case of sexual harassment judicial practice, and to promote judicial progress, a large number of parties need to use their own experiences to challenge the judge's perception of sexual harassment, especially sexual harassment under power relations. "If you rationalize all the unfair procedures, it will hurt the next person who comes to this court," which is why she continues to fight.

Her expectations were not met in court. At around 7:00 p.m., the judge pronounced the verdict in court, finding that the evidence submitted by Xianzi was insufficient to prove that Zhu Jun had sexually harassed her. Xianzi's demands for a public apology and compensation from Zhu Jun were all rejected again.

After signing the two-hour transcript, at around 9:00, Xianzi walked out of the court with a headache, fatigue and hunger. She got in a taxi, looked back, and burst into tears at the scene: 20 or 30 plainclothes men followed behind the car, and "all those men (plainclothes)" held up their mobile phones and took pictures of her. She later realized that they wanted to take the license plate number, but still felt humiliated: "I felt that I was not a civil plaintiff, like a heinous serial murderer."

She didn't have time to take pictures of this scene, so she turned her head and insisted on looking at the plainclothes. She's going to tell them, "I see what you're doing too."

new start

At 9:40, Xianzi found a commercial center about one kilometer away from the court, and joined forty or fifty supporters who were scattered to avoid the police. She is very calm in her heart, because she believes that even if everyone sees the verdict, they will "not be affected by the court" and will definitely wait for her outside.

One of the supporters, a college student, Cicada, later recorded this moment on her Douban: "Suddenly, countless feet are running in the same direction... It seems that every face has been pulled out from the floor tiles and flower beds. Same. In the middle of the circle is Xianzi, the warrior who fought relentlessly for four years. I will always remember this night. ”

Xianzi recounted his speech in court and thanked others for their support. Within ten minutes, the police arrived at the scene and dispersed the crowd in the name of epidemic prevention.

The next day, Xianzi felt pain all over after getting up, "like being beaten up". After checking the messages on social media, she realized that the "trauma wasn't just from the courtroom," but also from the denial of her freedom of speech throughout her case.

Xianzi's WeChat video account was banned for posting a video of him meeting with supporters after the trial. It was very cruel to her. The account has saved many supportive messages from strangers, including "something that has nothing to do with the feminist community" and "very ordinary people". One woman wrote that she had "seen a woman's growth, and a whole generation of women's growth" from Xianzi's case . All of that is gone now.

Her friends and supporters have also been repeatedly blocked and banned, and attacks on her on the Internet have become unscrupulous, including calling her "delusional" and slandering the normal investigation procedures of the police (according to Xianzi's second-instance appeal , In 2018, she reported the case in Beijing, and when she was in Beijing, the police went to her hometown in Hubei to warn her parents, which was not a normal case-handling procedure). Xianzi felt pain for losing the channel to defend herself: "As long as a person has a life, she has the right to complain. In fact, they completely deny the existence of me as a person."

After the trial, famous scholars and lawyers such as Lao Dongyan, Chi Susheng, and Li Meijin put forward legal opinions on the verdict of the case. On August 12, Zhou Ze (微博@周泽拍案), an associate professor at the China Youth University for Political Science and chief lawyer of Beijing Zebo Law Firm, posted on Weibo, expressing his support for Xianzi and "Mitu", saying that Xianzi's loss in the second trial was "true". Foreseeable results”: “If the harassment did happen, it was a fluke for the harasser and a misfortune for the harassed if it was not recognized by the court due to insufficient evidence. The main complaint was that the harassed person won sympathy through the litigation process and the media’s voice , solidarity, still can be regarded as justice. "

April 4 admires Xianzi very much, for being able to devote eight long years of his life to defending rights. A friend from April 4th once said to her, "It won't change anything if you go (at the scene)" and "You are not missing." Sisi replied: It's not that Xianzi needs her, but she needs Xianzi. Xianzi's case provided her with the opportunity to understand a woman's struggle for her rights in China, "what kind of situation can she go to?": "(Going to the scene) is an explanation for myself."

Xianzi believes that she is "not qualified" to talk about the "cost" because "many people have not entered the court process and are bearing the price just like me", and too many people, including lawyers, friends and unnamed supporters, have stood up for her. The lawsuit paid. She hopes people think the attention is worth it. And she believes that all her efforts and stories are meaningful : "I am very satisfied with who I am now. I just feel that I am still too fragile, and there are not enough things I can bear."

Now Xianzi is facing a new challenge, that is, after the case is over, what can she continue to do to serve the feminist community. In her view, the most precious thing is the connection with community partners, "a connection established when both parties are paying and suffering." She is eager to get rid of the trauma as soon as possible, "enter the next stage", and find new ways to rebuild this connection and provide support for everyone in the situation of being constantly scattered by public power.

(The characters appearing in the article are all pseudonyms)

Note:

[1] "Xianzi v. Zhu Jun Appeal Petition (with the full text of the first-instance judgment)" (need to go over the wall)

https://matters.news/@genderwatchi/188767-Xianzi v. Zhu Jun appeal petition-full text of first-instance judgment attached-bafyreidt2rh74qkuy67pe6ev43npr6ch6yy356i3j5ufxrsqs7ur7gq22e

[2] High Probabilities: Civil Evidence Rules. If one party does not have sufficient evidence to prove the fact to be proved, but the evidence presented by the other party has proved that the fact is highly likely to occur, the people's court can confirm the fact.