Guatemalan to be first man in jail for sending a “tweet”
Guatemalan Jean Anleu could possibly be the first man to be sent to jail after sending a “tweet” on the popular social networking site Twitter, tackling the big-time corruption in his country.
Anleu, who allegedly operates under the alias “jeanfer”, urged investors and depositors to “cash out” their money from the rural banks of Guatemanla, which were allegedly stained by many political scandals.
“First concrete action should be take cash out of Banrural and bankrupt the bank of the corrupt,” the 96-character tweet said.
According to Prosecutor Genaro Pacheco, Anleu could be facing a five-year prison term, and be the first person arrested and to go in jail by just sending a tweet.
The prosecutor claimed that Anleu’s words in his Twitter message have “illegally” undermined people’s trust to the banking system of the country.
The prosecutor also plans to slap Anleu with a $6, 200 fine for spreading “false” information.
However, Anleu’s legal counsel, Jose Toledo believes the Guatemalan government only wants to make him as an example on what could happen if they go against them.
But instead of silencing the people, news of the arrest made some unity on the Twitter community as several thousand members retweet Anleu’s tweet, a publicity that his government tried to avoid.
To date, some 1, 600 followers regularly follows news of Anleu while other donated money for his bail through Paypal services. A report claimed that about half of the bail was donated by his supporters.
The Guatemalan government was not the first to cried foul over these tweets. Countries like Iran, China, and Vietnam also expressed concerns over the “uncontrolled” messages being passed on Twitter.
For his part, Anleu has now toned down on his tweets and keep it in a more restrained manner and less politics.
Related posts:
- Peek Introduces Twitter-only Gadget for Frugal Twitter Users Peek, the
- Leaked Statement of President Obama over Kanye West Raises Debate Leaked sta
- Hackers Temporarily Disrupts Twitter Operation Access to
- Downed “Great Firewall” of China Allows Users to Glimpse of Facebook For severa
- Dark Future Ahead for MySpace as Traffic Goes Down After year
