On 16th January 2017, Shanwei intermediate people’s court in Guangdong province gave a final verdict on the trial which involves the protests staged last year in Wukan village, Lufeng city. Nine defendants including Wei Yonghan and Zhang Bingchai were accused of disrupting public order, inciting illegal assemblies, staging protests, obstructing traffic, disrupting businesses and intentionally spreading false information.
After the hearing, Shanwei intermediate people’s court upheld the ruling by the Haifeng county people’s court, upholding the original sentences of six defendants including Wei Yonghan and Zhang Bingchai, who were sentenced to imprisonment between two to ten years. Wu Fang, Zhuang Songkun and Cai Jialin showed repentance during the second trial, and their sentences were thus reduced to 4 years and 6 months, 3 years and 6 months and 3 years respectively.
The first public hearing took place at Haifeng county people’s court on December 26th 2016, and the nine defendants were handed prison sentences ranging between 2 to 10 years. Eleven others involved in the case were acquitted of all charges due to the less serious nature of their crimes.
According to the court, several villagers headed by Wei Yonghan and Zhang Bingchai disrupted public order, incited illegal assemblies, staged protests, obstructed traffic, disrupted businesses and intentionally spread false information from 19th June 2016 on under the excuse of the arrest of Lin Zulian, former Party secretary and director of Wukan village. The protests lasted for 84 days, causing disruptions to the daily lives of over 10,000 villagers, and resulting in an economic loss of more than 15 million RMB.
On September 13th 2016, local police arrested over 20 key suspects, including Wei Yonghan, Hong Yongzhong and Yang Jinzhen. This enabled local life in Wukan to be restored to normality.
Back in 2011, villagers in Wukan staged large-scale rallies to show their dissatisfaction with how local officials’ handled land and financial issues. After the re-election of the village committee, Lin Zulian came to power. However, suspicions of corruption were rife, and in June 17th 2016 coercive measures were taken and Lin was under formal investigation by local authorities. Following hearings on September 8th and October 12th 2016, Lin was officially charged with bribery and bribery of a non-state personnel; he was sentenced to 3 years and 1 month’s imprisonment and fined 200,000 RMB.
The reporter has learned that social and economic development in Wukan is now on track. Local officials have registered ownership of land for the village in accordance with the law; new implementations are being finalised one by one; members of the new village Party branch have been elected in strict accordance with existing regulations; and new leaders of the village committee will be elected after Chinese Lunar New Year.
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