A travel blogger who posed next to the tombstone of Chinese martyrs who died in the Galwan Valley border clash had his account shut down on Chinese social media for "showing no respect" to the heroes. Photo: Dazhong Daily

A travel blogger who posed next to the tombstone of Chinese martyrs who died in the Galwan Valley border clash with Indian troops was sentenced to seven months in prison for infringing upon the reputation and honor of the martyrs. A local court in Pishan county of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region also ordered him to publicly apologize through the media within 10 days. 

The blogger, Li Qixian, who uses the name of "Xiaoxian Jayson" on social media platform Toutiao News, traveled to Kangwaxi Martyrs Cemetery, located in the Karakorum Mountains, on July 15. He first stepped on the stone base engraved with the name of the cemetery, and then leaned against a monument marking the cemetery. He also posed next to the tomb of Chen Xiangrong, who sacrificed his life at the Galwan Valley border clash, with a smile on his face, making a pistol-like gesture toward the tombstone, the local investigation said.

On the same day, Li shared the photos on his WeChat moments to about 5,000 online friends. When several friends pointed out that those pictures showed no respect to the heroes and martyrs, he deleted them but later published them on Toutiao News to gain much more attention. The set of photos has been heavily criticized by Chinese netizens as having no respect for martyrs. 

Such inappropriate behavior attracted the public attention, and local police set up an investigation on the case on July 22 with local people's procuratorate in Pishan County stepping in for a probe in accordance with the law. 

Local procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Li on September 30 and during the trial, the suspect overturned the original confession and refused to plead guilty, and then the authority proposed a sentence of seven months' imprisonment. After the people's court opened the trial on the case, it adopted the sentencing recommendation from the procuratorate. 

According to the supplementary articles of the Criminal Law, those who insult, slander or infringe upon the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention if the circumstances are serious.

In February, the Central Military Commission issued commendations to the servicemen for their role in bravely fighting back provocations by foreign forces at the Galwan Valley. The title of "border-defending hero" was conferred on Battalion Commander Chen Hongjun posthumously, while Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran received first-class merits. They all died in a Galwan Valley clash last June, the Xinhua News Agency reported.