Bogota - A Colombian town has taken a hard line against gossip, with fines of up to $6 000 (about R36 000) and three years in jail.

"Residents come out with things that they have no reason to say, that are mere gossip and that have even gotten people killed," Margoth Morales, city manager of Iconozo, 150km south of Bogota, told a television station.

Morales explained that only gossips who cannot resist talking about their neighbors will be punished to the maximum. Recidivists could get the full three-year, $6 000 punishment.

The Iconozo gossip ordinance is not the first in Colombia. Two years ago, the mayor of Ibague, also in Tolima province, imposed a fine on gossip. - Sapa-AFP