Micro-blogger sentenced to four years in prison

Yang Xiuyu, a former popular Chinese micro-blogger, was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 150,000 yuan ($24,500) on Tuesday by Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court.

Yang, 41, founder of Erma Co and better known by his online name, "Lier Chaisi", received 531,200 yuan from May 2012 to September 2013 by helping clients delete unfavorable posts and publishing rumors on the Internet, the court said.

Jia Liying, a judge in the court, said she hoped the sentence ruling will serve as a warning against spreading rumors online and help clean up cyberspace.

Yang, from Jilin province, said he will not appeal.

The Ministry of Public Security once said on its website that Yang is also suspected of using Guo Meimei to discredit the Red Cross Society of China.

Guo, 23, received nationwide notoriety three years ago after flaunting her luxurious lifestyle on micro blogs while falsely claiming to be a Red Cross employee.

She was arrested on a charge of operating a gambling house in August and is also under investigation for alleged involvement in the sex trade and spreading rumors online.

Guo's case is still ongoing.

The police have not established whether Yang used Guo as the Ministry of Public Security alleges, and the prosecution has no evidence. If such evidence does surface, Yang will face further charges. "The prosecutors presented no facts about Guo, so we made no mention of it in the judgment," Jia added.

Yi Shenghua, a Beijing lawyer, said that he was glad to see China cracking down on rumormongering, adding that everyone must be responsible for what they say, whether it is in face-to-face conversations or on the Internet.

Yi mentioned a guideline on tackling civil disputes caused by online information and issued by the Supreme People's Court in October, saying it can effectively clean up and regulate cyberspace by law.

Under the guideline, people who offer money to network service providers or posters of information to have material deleted will be subject to penalties.

Cheng Manli, a media professor at Peking University, said that the guideline and crackdowns showed a determination by the country to clean up online rumors, adding that the efforts will make the online environment more regulated.

caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn