Fang Zhouzi's lawsuit against Cui Yongyuan held in open trial

Court proceedings began yestrday in the lawsuit anti-fraud campaigner Fang Zhouzi filed against former talk show host Cui Yongyuan for defamation of character concerning their genetically-modified food debate that took place on social media last September.

Fang alleges that Cui maliciously forwarded harmful posts via the former host's Tencent Weibo account, which damaged his reputation.

Fang is seeking 300-thousand yuan (just under 50-thousand U.S. dollars) in compensation for what the campaigner considers as "mental suffering."

Neither of the two appeared at the courthouse, located in Beijing's Hadian district.