Man convicted for defaming ex-girlfriend on internet

BEIJING - A Chinese man has been convicted for conducting a slander campaign on the internet, accusing his former girlfriend of being raped, working as a prostitute and spreading AIDS, a report said.

Yang Yongmeng, 32, distributed explicit photos and video footage of his former girlfriend on the Internet, and fabricated a story that she had been raped, worked as a prostitute and was infected with HIV, after she broke up with him, Xinhua reported Saturday.

The campaign resulted in the woman becoming the subject of public vitriol and which ruined her reputation.

Yang was later convicted of aggravated defamation and sentenced at the People’s Court in Rongcheng county in Hebei province March 26, an official was quoted as saying Saturday.

Yang met the woman in March 2008. They soon became lovers and lived together in Beijing, when he shot explicit video clips and photos, police said.

After the woman broke up with him in June 2009, he reacted by distributing the video footage in her hometown. He uploaded the video clips on the internet and said she had been raped by her stepfather and become HIV-positive.

He said she was spreading HIV to new clients each day and wanted to seek fame by attracting public attention on the internet.

Yang also published 282 phone numbers, saying that they were “clients” of the “AIDS-infected prostitute”.

More than 157,000 webpages, 6,420 online reports and 735 video clips were also uploaded till Oct 27, 2009, police said.

Meanwhile, tests conducted by the national disease control and prevention centre found out the woman was free of HIV.