A British Columbia journalist has won a $275,000 defamation lawsuit after supporters of Chinese businessman Guo Wengui staged a 77-day protest outside his Surrey home in 2020 and accused him of being a Chinese Communist Party spy. In a decision issued Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Richard Hewson found Yun Fei Zhu liable for defamatory statements made about journalist Bing Chen Gao, including statements made by other speakers during livestreams that Zhu published. Gao was awarded $250,000 in general damages and $25,000 in aggravated damages. The court also ordered Zhu not to repeat the defamatory statements and told him to pay Gao $5,000 in court costs.
According to Gao's testimony, Zhu and others protested outside his Surrey home every day from September 15 to December 1, 2020. The crowds varied in size, ranging from around 10 people to as many as 60. The demonstrations were livestreamed, mainly by Zhu, who the court described as being treated as a "leader" of the protests.
