Speaking of stupid Laws! Colombian town makes gossip a crime.

By MARGARITA MARTINEZ
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Malicious gossip often results in tears and anger, but in Colombia it had lead to murder and officials say they've heard enough.

Fed up with people targeted by false rumors turning up dead or wrongfully arrested, the mayor of a small Colombian town has made gossip a crime punishable by up to four years in prison.

``Human beings must be aware and recognize that having a tongue and using it to do bad is the same as having dynamite in their mouths,'' says an official municipal decree issued last year in Icononzo, 40 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota.

While some residents may denounce the decree as ridiculous, Mayor Jesus Ignacio Jimenez insists that in a country as violent as Colombia, gossiping can have serious consequences.

``It's a tradition for gossip to spread through small towns and it's a part of life, but what is worrying is that people are going to jail or being murdered due to gossip,'' Jimenez said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Monday.

Jimenez recalled a case when a man was killed because somebody claimed he belonged to a leftist insurgent group. Others have been thrown in jail based on similar allegations.

Sometimes, many of the town's 11,500 residents will leave work or school early and lock themselves inside their homes simply because an unfounded rumor had spread that members of an illegal armed group were on their way, said Milton Patarroyo, the town's human rights official.

Icononzo resident Edelmira Giron said the decree, which also calls for fines of up to $150,000 for spreading false rumors, has had an impact since it went into effect six months ago by making people ``think twice'' about what they say.

So far nobody has been arrested on gossiping charges, Jimenez said, while insisting that sooner or later it will happen.

``They just haven't yet been caught,'' he said.

By Mr. Hollywood on May 17, 2005, 07:05 in Politics & the war.