Taiwanese Lee Yuan-chun (李援軍) yesterday filed a lawsuit against exiled Chinese dissident Wang Dan (王丹) on accusations Wang tried to rape him.
Lee, a former political worker, told reporters at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office that he had not thought he would have to take the matter to court just to press Wang for an apology.
Asked if he had any evidence to back up his accusation, Lee said he has presented it to prosecutors.
Photo: CNA
Lee in a social media post on Friday last week accused Wang of attempting to rape him in a New York City hotel room in 2014, and demanded that he apologize by yesterday.
Lee said Wang kissed him against his will, before pinning him down on a bed and allegedly attempting to rape him.
He said he pushed Wang away and asked him to stop.
Lee said he has been approached by several individuals who also said they were targets of sexual misconduct by Wang.
The gender equality education committee at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), where Wang served as an adjunct assistant professor until 2017, has launched a probe into the allegations, Lee said, calling on former students at the university and others to come forward if they have been sexually harassed or assaulted.
The university on Sunday said that Wang would be barred from teaching at any university in Taiwan if the accusations against him turn out to be true.
Wang yesterday in an online post said that he has arrived in Taiwan from the US, where he has permanent residency, to cooperate with the legal proceedings.
He said that he cut short a visit to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University to travel to Taiwan.
“I will not shy away. I ask only that the judiciary handle this case in a fair and just manner so that the truth can be known,” Wang said.
Wang has denied the accusations, saying that Lee’s claim differed greatly from his memories and understanding.
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