Veteran blogger sentenced for slandering heroes, martyrs

A veteran micro-blogger was sentenced to eight months in prison by a court in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, for slandering martyrs and heroes on Monday.

Qiu Ziming, whose online name is labixiaoqiu and has more than 2.5 million followers on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, also was ordered to make a public apology on major websites and national media within 10 days after the ruling takes effect, Jianye District People's Court said.

Qiu was identified by the court having posted two micro blogs to attract more internet users in the morning of Feb 19, in which he slandered military heroes and martyrs in the border clash with Indian troops last year, as well as distorted their heroic deeds.

As a micro-blogger with a large number of fans, the two posts were spreading quickly and widely online, triggering public outrage and bringing great negative effects to society, the court added.

The next day, he was detained by Nanjing police, and in early March, he was taken to court by Nanjing prosecutors.

After the court's investigation, it said in the ruling that Qiu's behavior constituted the crime of slandering the reputation of heroes and martyrs under the amended Criminal Law, but given that he confessed to the offense with a positive attitude, it decided to punish him leniently.

China has intensified efforts in protecting heroes and martyrs in recent years by legislation and strict implementation of the law.

In May 2018, for example, a law specializing in safeguarding the reputation rights of heroes and martyrs came into effect. In March this year, the revised Criminal Law also clearly states that it is a crime to slander martyrs and heroes.