Woman imprisoned for insulting posts about war heroes

Beijing's Dongcheng District People's Court on October 12 sentenced a woman to seven-month imprisonment for infringement on the reputation of martyrs and heroes.

The woman, surnamed Xu, posted two posts insulting war martyr Dong Cunrui, a 19-year-old soldier who lifted a package of explosives with his left hand and pulled the fuse with his right to demolish an enemy blockhouse in 1948 during a battle in the War of Liberation.

The posts were read over 90,000 times on China's Twitter-like Weibo.

The court ordered Xu to apologize publicly on national media platforms within 10 days from the effective judgment date.

The court held that heroes and martyrs are the backbone of the Chinese nation and an important embodiment of the country's core values.

Xu's behavior constitutes a crime against the reputation and honor of these heroes and martyrs.

Earlier, online influencer Luo Changping was under investigation for allegedly insulting the martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers army during the Korean War (1950-53) in an online post.

Insulting and defaming heroes and martyrs is a crime in China, according to an amendment to the law that went into effect on March 1. Serious offenders will be sentenced to a maximum of three-year imprisonment.