A Shandong netizen Duan Lei was detained by police in February 2009 under the accusation of “defaming” a local party secretary, Guo Feng, at Zhuang Zai town.
According to Xinhua report, Duan accused Guo Feng of corruption and selling drug and sex in a KTV. The People's Procuratorate at Cao County believed that Duan's article had generated “negative impact” and “endangered social order” and filed a prosecution against him on July 3.
Duan Lei's lawyer pointed out that among the six articles Duan posted online, three of them had 79 views and others did not have view record, the accusation of “negative impact” and “endangered social order” could not be sustained. Duan was put on court on 17 of July in a close door hearing. On 24 of July the People's Procuratorate dropped the charge due to lack of evidence and Duan Lei was released from his 150-day detention.
The Xinhua news on 31 of August reported that Duan was compensated with RMB16 thousand (around USD2,200) for his 150-day detention. The amount was shared by the County's People's Procuratorate (11,798 yuan) and local police (5,000 yuan).