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China has jailed a popular blogger for “defaming martyrs†after he suggested the death toll of the China-India border clash last year was higher than the official count of four.
Qiu Ziming – with over 2.5 million followers on China’s Twitter-like Weibo – was sentenced to eight months in prison, the court in the eastern city of Nanjing announced Tuesday.
He is the first person to be jailed under a new provision of China’s criminal law that bans the “defamation of martyrs and heroes.â€
After months of silence, the Chinese military in February said four soldiers were killed in a skirmish with Indian troops in the disputed Galwan Valley last June.Â
It was the worst border conflict between China and India in decades.
The dead were posthumously honoured as “border-defending heroes.â€
In social media posts, Qiu had suggested that the actual death toll might have been higher than the official count.Â
He also said that a commanding officer survived “because he was the highest-ranking officer there†– a comment that irked officials.
Qiu had “infringed on the reputation and honour of heroes and martyrs … and confessed to his crimes,†the court verdict said.
The 38-year-old was detained in February and Weibo banned his social media handle “Crayon Ball.â€
Since February, police have arrested at least six bloggers for allegedly defaming the dead soldiers in online comments, highlighting the political sensitivity of the border clash.
Beijing passed a law in 2018 that made a civil offence of “defamation of martyrs and heroes,†including war-time heroes idolized in Communist Party history and modern-day figures such as fallen firefighters and soldiers.
It was made a criminal offense in February.
– AFP
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