China live-streaming app ‘partly responsible’ in death of rooftopper Wu Yongning
- Appeal court upholds family’s US$4,300 compensation claim
- 26-year-old was ‘aware of the danger’ when he climbed skyscraper without safety equipment
A Beijing court has upheld the verdict against a major live-streaming app, ordering it to shoulder partial responsibility for the death of a “rooftopper” who fell from a skyscraper while posting from the summit of a 62-storey building in central China.
Wu, who said he relied only on “martial arts training and careful planning”, plunged to his death from the top of the Huayuan Hua Centre in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, during a live-stream in November 2017. He was 26.
The Beijing Internet Court ruled in May that the parent company of Huajiao, the platform that live-streamed Wu’s last rooftop exploit, should bear “minor responsibility” for the accident and ordered it to pay 30,000 yuan (US$4,300) compensation to his family. Wu’s mother, He Xiaofei, had originally demanded 60,000 yuan and an apology.
The company, Mijing Hefeng, filed an appeal and on Friday the Beijing No 4 Intermediate People’s Court upheld the original verdict, according to the Xiaoxiang Morning Post.
