Screenshot of Labi Xiaoqiu apologizing.

"I feel extremely ashamed of myself, and I'm very sorry." The internet celebrity, who was arrested by police on the charge of violating the law on defaming martyrs, apologized on air on Monday during the prime time national news broadcast. 

"My behavior was an annihilation of conscience," said the blogger surnamed Qiu and known as Labixiaoqiu online, 38, whose Weibo account had more than 2.5 million followers before it was suspended. 

Qiu made a one-minute appearance on Xinwen Lianbo, a 30-minute prime time CCTV news broadcast that contains all the day's most important news events from home and abroad.

In the program, he was seen sitting in a lockup booth and wearing a prison uniform, while expressing his remorse. 

"During the many years I surfed online, my writings have become more and more frivolous and arrogant. Without learning about the whole picture, I spoke ill of the heroes who gave their lives to guard our home. My words not only hurt the reputation and honor of those soldiers, but of all PLA soldiers," Qiu said.

Police in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, on Monday formally arrested Qiu, who had been in detention since February 20, for violating the law on defaming martyrs' honor and reputation after he smeared PLA heroes killed in the Galwan Valley border clash with India.

It is the first reported case of a suspect being charged with violating the law after China's top judicial authorities added the clause on defaming martyrs to the Criminal Law in a supplementary regulation that came into effect on March 1.

According to the supplementary articles, Qiu's infringement of the reputation and honor of heroes shall be punished with a fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention if the circumstances are serious.

Global Times