An offender who defamed Chinese agricultural scientist Yuan Longping via overseas social media published a letter of apology in a state-owned media on Tuesday to express a sincere apology to the late scholar and his relatives and promised never to commit such an offense again.

The offender surnamed Zhang performed the obligation of the effective judgment made by a court in North China’s Tianjin Municipality and apologized publicly in the People's Court Daily on Tuesday for his wrong remarks that harmed the reputation and honor of the late academician.

Zhang wrote in the letter that he had deeply recognized his wrongdoing and felt regretted the wrong remarks he published on the internet, noting he was willing to bear all the legal responsibilities for the offense.

Yuan is known as the “father of hybrid rice” in China, who had devoted all his life to the research, application and promotion of the hybrid rice technology, making a great contribution to China and the world, Zhang wrote.

Yuan’s deeds and spirit are the shared historical memory of the Chinese nation as well as the backbone and pride of the Chinese nation which should be honored and remembered. No distortion, defacement or blasphemy of Yuan is allowed, Zhang said in the letter.

“I would like to extend my sincere apologies to academician Yuan Longping and his family for my inappropriate remarks, promising never to do it again and become a law-abiding citizen,” Zhang wrote, pleading a public supervision over his behavior and hoping the public to learn a lesson from him and raise legal awareness and honor heroes and martyrs.

Based on the Law on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs and the Civil Code, Zhang was ruled by the Secondary Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin on May 19 to apologize publicly in national media to eliminate the negative impact after Zhang published and shared nine times an insulting post about Yuan via an overseas information and networking platform in the days between May 22 and 24, 2021. These posts received 10 comments, were shared 36 times and liked 275 times.

As a pioneer in the research and development of hybrid rice in China and the first scientist in the world to successfully utilize the method of rice heterosis, Yuan’s reputation and honor should be protected like other deceased heroes and role models whose deeds and spirits are universally recognized by society, according to China's Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Global Times