By Xu Shenglan

A Beijing man who spread personal details of his friend's cheating husband was forced to pay retribution to the man for "damaging his reputation."

Zhang Leyi had to pay 5,000 yuan ($732) to Wang Fei, his friend's husband, Beijing Morning Post reported Thursday.

Zhang started the cyber assault after Wang's wife, Jiang Yan, committed suicide in 2007 as she believed Wang betrayed her.

On her blog, Jiang wrote about her personal life, including stories about Wang and his mistress.

Zhang created a website a month later and posted personal details about Wang, his company's name, address and phone numbers.

Jiang's relatives and friends posted articles in memory of her on the website. And soon after the website was opened, the contact information of the alleged mistress, Dong Fang, was also disclosed. The website also includes pictures of Wang and Dong.

In a January 2008 entry on the blog, Jiang's elder sister wrote that Jiang hoped that the marriage would be long lasting, and the whole family was shocked about the suicide.

"Wang Fei still did not show up and apologize," she wrote.

They also posted similar entries on tianya.cn, daqi.com and other websites.

Wang and Dong were fired from their companies and received harassing calls at mid-night from strangers.

Wang sued Zhang, Tianya and Daqi in Chaoyang district court, Beijing in April 2008. Zhang and daqi.com were both ordered in December 2008 to pay 5,000 yuan in compensa-tion, but Tianya was spared because it deleted the articles at Wang's request.

Zhang appealed to the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court and claimed Wang's behavior was immoral and his privacy should not be protected.

But the court ruled that Zhang's behavior hurt Wang's reputation by posting Wang's personal information online, leading Internet users to launch an "online manhunt" and interrupt Wang's normal life.

The court also ordered Zhang to delete the information on the website, apologize to Wang and pay 648 yuan ($94) in notarization fees.

Wang's lawyer, Zhang Yanfeng, Wang has got a job in the advertising industry, and he now wants to live a normal life.

Cao Xing, a lawyer from Beijing Changji Law Firm, said Internet users often use "cyber manhunt" to track down people they do not like; but problems may result from this practice

"It's improper to search others' privacy and use it to abuse, slander, threat, harass and do illegal actions, although it will help to disclose the ugly truth and improve social morality sometimes," he said.

"Cyber manhunt" has triggered the downfall of Zhou Jiugeng, the former real estate management bureau director in Jiangning district, Nanjing.

Zhou was jailed for 11 years for corruption. Internet users exposed his misconduct by uploading photos showing his luxury lifestyle, including smoking pricey cigarettes.