Five people went on trial in central China's Hunan Province on Wednesday accused of fabricating online news and blackmailing the subjects of the reports to have them deleted.
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The procuratorate says that Ge Qiwei, alleged head of the gang, whose original name was Zhou Bo, falsely presented himself as a news reporter.
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The victims include officials and staff from enterprises and public institutions in more than 10 provinces and cities, in a case involving millions of yuan, according to the Hengyang city procuratorate.
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Ge's fabrications also smeared the local government and disrupted social order, the procuratorate said.
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It believes the five defendants threatened or coerced their victims to pay for defamatory posts to be deleted, which violates the criminal law.