The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province Photo: China News Service

A 19-year-old Chinese netizen was detained by the police in Nanjing, in East China's Jiangsu Province, on suspicion of provoking trouble after he was found making insulting remarks against victims of the Nanjing Massacre, local authorities announced on Tuesday. 

The unemployed man surnamed Chen , deliberately posted insults against the victims of Japan's brutal occupation of Nanjing in 1937 to attract attention, according to the announcement released by the Nanjing police.

The police tracked him down after receiving reports from the public that someone had been continuously publishing insulting remarks on multiple internet accounts causing extremely negative social impact.

China takes a tough position toward offenses on defaming or insulting martyrs and victims of tragedies like the Nanjing Massacre.

A 63-year-old man was recently detained by the Beijing police after he was found slandering martyr Wang Wei and insulting Wang's wife in a WeChat group on April 1, the 20th anniversary of the death of the fallen hero. Wang was a Chinese air force pilot who died when his fighter jet collided against a US military reconnaissance aircraft in the South China Sea in 2001. 

Earlier in February, the police detained seven netizens within three days, aged 19 to 40 and from different Chinese cities, for defaming the martyrs who sacrificed their lives to defend China's territory in the Galwan Valley confrontation with India in June 2020, after China unveiled for the first time details of the Chinese casualties in the clash. 

China passed a law in 2018 that stipulates it is illegal to defame the country's heroes and martyrs with offenders to be held criminally responsible. 

In late February, China's top judicial body announced that it had added 22 provisions to the Criminal Law in a supplementary regulation that took effect on March 1, including provisions for slandering martyrs, attacking police and disrupting public transportation. 

According to the supplementary articles, those who insult, slander or otherwise infringe upon the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of no more than three years or criminal detention if the circumstances are serious.