Terry Xu Has To Pay LHL $87,800 In Legal Costs After Defamation Suit
The Online Citizen editor Terry Xu was ordered to pay $210,00 to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for a defamatory article that was published on the site in 2019.
After 19 days, he managed to raise that sum through crowdfunding.
Now, Xu has to pay another $87,000, this time for the legal costs that PM Lee has incurred during the suit.
As such, he’s started another crowdfund.
Terry Xu ordered to pay $87,800 for legal costs from LHL suit
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Xu was ordered to pay PM Lee $87,832.93 in legal costs by a High Court judge on Wednesday (13 Oct).
The judge had also previously awarded PM Lee $210,000 in damages, which Xu raised by 20 Sep through crowdfunding.
The Prime Minister’s Office has said that the damages will be donated to charity.
Terry Xu sets up second crowdfund
For the $87,832.93, Xu has started a second crowdfunding process.
He noted that this is “not a sign of pity” towards him as he says it is taking a stand against political leaders in using defamation suits in achieving goals that they desire.
In the first update dated 13 Oct at 12pm, Xu has raised $3,591.19, which is 4.09% of the goal.
Xu said that he’ll provide updates on the crowdfunding status twice a day — once in the afternoon and another one later in the evening.
Crowdfunding for defamations
Raising over $210,000 in just 19 days is a feat in itself.
The amount to be raised this time is lower and the amount shouldn’t be raised with great difficulty.
Previous crowdfunding campaigns following defamation suits have been successful. Among the ones who’ve used this method are blogger Leong Sze Hian and Roy Ngerng.
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Featured image adapted from Kirsten Han on Twitter.
