Han Han to sue academic fraud exposer for libel
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Xinhua, January 31, 2012
A popular young Chinese writer will sue a well-known anti-fraud activist for allegedly damaging his reputation, and the writer is seeking 100,000 yuan (15,826 U.S. dollars) in compensation.
Han Han, a 29-year-old writer and racecar driver in Shanghai, on Sunday entrusted a lawyer to bring legal proceedings against Fang Shimin -- better known by his pen name Fang Zhouzi -- after Fang posted a series of articles on his microblog in the past 12 days accusing Han of asking his father to write articles for him in the past.
Fang is renowned for his efforts in fighting plagiarism and academic fraud.
"This Spring Festival is really stirring. Unfortunately, the court was closed during the holiday so I had to wait until now to start legal proceedings in order to safeguard my rights," Han said.
The online dispute was instigated by a netizen nicknamed "Maitian," who had accused Han of taking credit for his father's work but then apologized to Han earlier this month. Later, Fang was dragged in and continued to raise doubts about Han's writing.
"Literary creation is a dignified profession. It is a crippling blow for a writer to be accused of plagiarism or taking credit for someone else's work," said Han.
Since he has rounded up some reliable witnesses and collected compelling evidence, including his former manuscripts and other writing materials, for judicial review, Han told Xinhua that he is confident he will win the case.
Han said that they are preparing for the lawsuit and will soon submit relevant materials to the court.
Fang replied to Han, via microblog, that he would like to find a suitable occasion to debate the matter with Han and he will have the lawsuit handled by his lawyer.
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