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B.C. Journalist, Harassed by ‘Cult-Like’ China Protest Group, Wins Defamation Payout
The ruling includes $250,000 in general damages and $25,000 in aggravated damages after weeks of livestreamed harassment outside his home.
On Monday, Canada's Supreme Court awarded journalist Gao Bing Chen $275,000 in defamation damages against Yun Fei Zhu, who orchestrated a 77-day harassment campaign outside his Surrey home.
The harassment stemmed from Gao's criticism of exiled businessman Guo Wengui, who established the New Federal State with former adviser to President Donald Trump Steve Bannon, a movement critics regarded as unreliable and cult-like.
For 11 weeks, protesters gathered outside Gao's Surrey home, playing funeral music and livestreaming to up to 100,000 people while Zhu allegedly made baseless claims that the journalist was a traitor and agent of China.
Justice Richard Hewson noted Gao suffered 'severe distress' from the defamatory comments, forcing the journalist to consider moving his family out of Canada entirely to escape the ongoing harassment.
Guo was sentenced to 30 years in a U.S. jail for fraud in July, while Zhu admitted to continuing similar defamatory statements about Gao throughout 2024 and 2025.