A netizen was wrongly jailed for lying and slander after his online writings exposed an allegedly fraudulent village election.

Shi Xizhao was later cleared and offered compensation and an apology after he drew attention to his plight through association with well-known blogger Wang Shuai, who has also falsely imprisoned for speaking out against the government.

Shi, who was standing as a candidate for village committee head but lost out to a rival, said he has strong evidence that the poll was rigged.

"I will continue pushing for justice, even if I have to live on selling my blood, I want to see the truth until the day I die." Shi said.

Xia Xueluan, a Peking University sociologist, said Shi's case was the latest example of Chinese people using the Internet to fight for justice.

"With help of the Internet, ordinary people today find it easier to claim their due rights," he said.

"Some local officials aren't used to the idea of Internet democracy."

"Local officials need to learn from their mistakes and strengthen their legal sense, only then can we prevent this from happening again."

Shi was detained for three days in March after he wrote about the allegedly rigged poll on popular online forums.

He claimed that the number of final votes for his rival, Shi Zhixian, exceeded the total number of villagers and that the candidate had also been jailed for embezzlement and was still under investigation for corruption.

Shi said that he had previously petitioned different levels of government about the poll but had been told that the election process was fair and proper.

His online comments received little attention, but he was charged and detained on March 15 and police made him sign a statement that he would never mention the issue on the Internet again."

After his release, Shi heard a TV news report about blogger Wang Shuai, who was falsely imprisoned for publishing pictures mocking illegal land requisition and later given an apology by authorities.

Shi then posted yet another report online about the election and put it under the title"Look! A second Wang Shuai case is in Henan's Linying county".

"This article was immediately picked up by netizens and received many, many replies." Shi said.

Police later apologized and cleared Shi of the charge. Police offered compensation of 111.99 yuan (US$17.6) for every day he was detained, which he refused. She told the Beijing News: "If it wasn't for Wang Shuai, I may have had to bear this grievance forever."

Police said the five arresting officers were disciplined, but refused to disclose their names, or details of their punishment.

Shi said police again asked him to stop writing about the election, but he refused.

(China Daily May 20, 2009)