Outspoken blogger detained over capital claim

Bianmin, a blogger well-known for questioning moves by authorities in Yunnan Province, was detained Tuesday morning and kept in custody for falsely reporting the registered capital of his company, a police officer from Kunming's Wuhua district public security bureau confirmed to the Global Times Thursday.

Bianmin, whose real name is Dong Rubin, became well-known for questioning the authorities' methods of enforcing the law in response to influential social events since 2009.

The police officer said that Dong was involved in the false reporting case, and added that the case is under investigation, and refused to give more details.

According to Dong's lawyer Xiao Dongzhi, on Tuesday a guard asked Dong to come out of his apartment, using the excuse that his car had been hit. When he came outside the police detained him.

They took away a laptop, a computer and a USB stick from his home, the Nandu Daily reported, and on August 29, Dong published a post on his Weibo account saying that men raided his office and took away three computers.

Dong admitted via a blog on September 4 that he had falsely reported the registered capital of his company. The registered capital was 100,000 yuan ($16,340), but Dong had told industrial and commercial authorities that the figure was 1 million.

It is common for private enterprises to exaggerate their registered capital to imply that they are powerful and credible, Wu Dong, a Shanghai-based lawyer from the M&A Law Firm, told the Global Times.

Owners of such companies can be charged with a crime only if they cause financial damages of more than 100,000 yuan to others or carry on illicit activities, Wu said.

Dong said he was worried that the authorities would take the opportunity to punish him because he had repeatedly challenged them, Xiao told the Global Times.

Dong first came to public attention in 2009, when he acted as the vice director of a commission formed by residents investigating a case in which a 24-year-old man died at a detention house in Jinning county in Kunming.

The county public security bureau at first announced that the man died after his head knocked the wall while he was playing hide-and-seek with other detainees, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The later investigation showed that the man was beaten to death by other prisoners, the report said.

A number of famous Net users have been arrested for a variety of offenses during the past days.

Qin Zhihui, who is widely known by his online name Qin Huohuo, and his accomplice were detained by police in August for engaging in illegal business operations.

Xue Biqun, also known as Xue Manzi on Sina Weibo, was detained for soliciting prostitutes last Month.

Zhou Lubao, a self-proclaimed whistle-blower, was also arrested for allegedly publishing negative reports online and then extorting those involved.