Former investigative journalist Luo Changping has been sentenced to seven months in prison and ordered to make a public apology for insulting Chinese soldiers portrayed in a blockbuster movie about the Korean war. The Sanya Suburb People’s Court in southern Hainan province announced the sentence on Luo on Thursday for “infringing the reputation and honour of national martyrs”, state broadcaster CCTV reported. TikTok maker ordered to clean up search engine for "defaming" Chinese revolutionary martyr Luo, 41, made the post in October last year about The Battle at Lake Changjin – a film that centres on a battle between US and Chinese forces during the Korean war – and said the soldiers who died in the freezing conditions were “stupid”. The court said the post was deleted by Weibo half an hour after it was posted, but it had already been read 22,397 times. The next day, Luo posted an apology on WeChat after receiving a call from the police and later turned himself in. He was officially detained two days after posting the comments, and pleaded guilty at his trial in March . The court also ordered him to make a public apology on news portal Sina.com, and two official newspapers – Legal Daily and PLA Daily . He also paid 80,000 yuan (US$12,000) in compensation to the Memorial Hall of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in Dandong, near the North Korean border “The court held that the heroic deeds of the Chinese people’s Volunteer Army are the common historical memory and precious spiritual wealth of the Chinese nation,” the court said. “We cannot tolerate blasphemy and slander.” Luo is among a number of opinion leaders to be prosecuted since a Law on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs came into effect in 2018. Popular blogger Qiu Ziming was jailed for “defaming martyrs” last year after he suggested the death toll of the China-India border clash in 2020 was higher than the official count of four, and questioned the PLA’s resolve in defending China’s border. Qiu, who had more than 2.5 million followers on Weibo, was sentenced to eight months in prison. The tragic story of a martyr in Mao’s China In 2012, Luo had exposed the corruption of former National Development and Reform Commission deputy head Liu Tienan. He received the Integrity Award from Transparency International in 2013 for his report, which eventually led to Liu being sentenced to life in prison for corruption .