Chongqing Number Two Secondary Court has sentenced the Fengjie Civil Affairs Department to pay a Chinese citizen surnamed Lu CNY20,000 in compensation for slandering his reputation.
The court found that the department had harmed the reputation of a Chinese citizen by using improper phases such as "to be deliberately dishonest".
According to the Chongqing Evening newspaper, 52-year-old Lu returned to work in Fengjie after retiring from the army in 1975. As he was injured when serving the army, he asked FCAD to assess his disability so he could receive a government subsidy. After seeing FCAD's assessment, Lu thought the department had downgraded his disability and requested it to reevaluate the case. FCAD issued a report at Lu's request in July 1992 and not only submitted the report to its superior departments, but also delivered to lower departments including the community where Lu lived, using phrases deemed to be insulting about Lu.
Unhappy with FCAD's actions, Lu took the matter to court, requesting the court to order FCAD to remedy the slur on his reputation and pay him a total of CNY100,000 in compensation.
The court believed that FCAD had acted improperly by sending the report to departments not related to Lu's case and using improper phrases in the report which were against normal practice in official documents. The court sentenced FCAD to apologize to Mr. Lu, redeem his reputation, and pay him CNY20,000 in compensation.
