Beijing's first sexual harassment-related lawsuit still has not
produced a verdict as of Monday, after its second round of hearings
at the Beijing Haidian District People's Court.
Neither of the two sides, the 25-year-old female plaintiff, Lei Man
and the accused, Lei's former immediate chief, could agree to an
out-of-court settlement.
Monday's four-hour hearing was conducted in a private session at
the request of the accused, 32-year-old Jiao Bin, vice-manager of
the Beijing Founder Order Computer Company because of privacy
concerns.
Lei brought the action against Jiao in March and requested a public
apology and a compensation of 50,000 yuan (US$6,040), saying Jiao
has disturbed her employment in other information industry (IT)
companies after she resigned from Founder Order due to Jiao's
sexual harassment.
"The chief judge has taken more evidence of mine than in the first
hearing, so I am quite confident of the final victory," Lei told
China Daily after the hearing yesterday.
Meanwhile, Jiao put forward a counter suit against Lei, saying she
has damaged Jiao's reputation, and asked for a mental compensation
of 5,000 yuan (US$604).
"The so-called sexual harassment allegations were totally
fabricated by the plaintiff, as her evidence could not prove that
the accused violated her rights (including the charges of sexual
harassment and employment interference)," said Zhao Yongxuan, the
lawyer representing the accused.
Monday's court proceedings mainly focused on the exchange of
evidence, as Lei's side invited a witness to testify for the first
time and listed 60 pieces of evidence for the court.
The witness, who is an editor of a cultural web site affiliated
Peking University, also the owner of Founder Order, proved that
Jiao published a 100-character story online last October making
statements about Lei's moral character.
The story also bragged about how to seduce a woman that had just
graduated from university in the workplace, according to Wang
Yanfeng, the witness testifying yesterday.
Furthermore, Lei also provided an email from one of Jiao's friends
-- Li Peng, which stated that Jiao has in fact interfered with her
search for work in Beijing and Shanghai, and even asked policemen
to arrest her when she reported the case to the authorities.
"It proved that I have been under the power of Jiao's influence for
a year after I gave up my job in Founder Order in October 2001,"
Lei said.
But for Jiao, Lei's widespread discussion of the lawsuit in the
local news media has obviously caused a stir and illegally
publicized the accused's place of work and name, according to his
lawyer Zhao Yongxuan.
"Jiao is really upset over this aspect as he has been spit at and
cursed by the public for these fabricated sexual harassment
allegations before the court has made its final decision," Zhao
said.
He
also mentioned that relations between Jiao and his wife are greatly
strained now.
But Zhao admitted that Jiao's career has not been negatively
influenced by the lawsuit.
Jiao refused to be present at the trials to avoid possible
confrontations with the accused, according to his lawyer.
Some psychologists have doubted Lei's psychological condition, as
the plaintiff is suspected of mixing imagination and reality. These
specialists also advised the court to order a psychological
assessment of Lei.
But the court has not done so up to this point. "It proved that I
am normal," Lei said.
Lei's lawyer Li Zaike said more work needs to be done to unearth
more evidence.
It
is reported that the lawsuit is the fourth one related to sexual
harassment in China that has gone to trial so far. In the previous
two cases, the female plaintiffs lost their cases due to a lack of
evidence.
The only victory achieved so far was by a female teacher in Wuhan
in Central China's Hubei
Province early last month, who claimed her superior made
improper advances. A mental compensation of 2,000 yuan (US$242) and
a public apology were ordered by the local court.
(China Daily July 1, 2003)