A popular Chinese blogger will spend the next eight months in jail under a new provision in China’s criminal law that prohibits “defaming martyrs.”
Qui Ziming was sentenced Tuesday in a courtroom in the eastern city of Nanjing. The court ordered the 38-year-old Qui to publicly apologize within 10 days, noting that he had openly admitted to his crime and apologized during an appearance on China’s state-owned broadcaster CCTV back on March 1.
The Chinese military said back in February that four soldiers were killed in clashes with Indian troops in the disputed Galwan Valley along the two countries' shared border last June. Qui, who blogged under the pseudonym “Labixiaquio,” wrote a series of blog posts suggesting more soldiers were killed during the clashes, and that a commanding officer had survived because he was the highest officer on the scene.
Authorities accused Qui of violating a provision of China’s Criminal Law that defames figures considered by the ruling Communist Party to be heroes and martyrs, including fallen soldiers.