Chinese blogger jailed for 8 months over blogging on India- China dispute

World

A popular Chinese blogger was jailed for eight months on Monday for his sceptical approach towards Chinese casualties during a border clash with India last year. He was convicted of “defaming heroes and martyrs’ ‘. Chou Ziming becomes the first person to be convicted under this new law implemented in March. In his Sina Weibo microblog account, which has a following of nearly 2.5 million people, he posted two messages “defaming the heroic deeds” of Chinese soldiers. The report says that his messages were quickly circulated on the internet.

Apart from the jail term, the Nanjing Jianye People’s Court asked the blogger to apologise publicly for his deeds through major online platforms and national media outlets within 10 days. However, the eight-month jail term was accepted by the court considering the 38-year-old’s guilty plea and pledge for not repeating the offence.

Chou wrote in his blog in February that the Chinese army must have had more casualties in the border clash last June than the four deaths announced by the authorities. Chinese officials delayed the death toll release till February which is almost six months after the clash on the Himalayan border.

The Nanjing police arrested Chou on March 1 and a video was posted by authorities marking his offence as the blogger admitted his mistake on the same day. “I feel very guilty about the inhumane act I committed. I deeply regret it,” said the blogger in the video.