Former blogger sentenced for four years

Yang Xiuyu, founder of Erma Co and with the online identity Lier Chaisi, stands at the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court, Nov 18, 2014.[Photo/IC]

Yang Xiuyu, founder of Erma Co and with the online identity Lier Chaisi, was taken to Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court at 8:33 am with another suspect, Lu Mei, a woman employee of the company.

Yang got the sentence after he received 531,200 yuan ($86,312) for helping people remove Internet posts and publish rumors, according to the court, adding the convict was also fined 150,000 yuan at the same time.

Yang, 41, from Northeast China's Jilin province, was charged with running the illegal operation between May 2012 and September 2013, the court said.

In one instance, Yang once asked a man to wear monk clothes to flirt with women in a boat in Beijing, and then Yang took video of the scene and posted it online. Yang later asked a painter surnamed An to comment, because An hoped to arouse attention and attract more followers to his blog this way.

Yang admitted during the previous trial in August that he had received profits from An.

Lu was sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined 30,000 yuan, the court added.