4 sentenced for over-complaining
By Jane Chen |
February 26, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AT least four farmers in a north China city have been put behind bars for blackmailing the local governments in separate cases after repeatedly visiting Beijing to lodge complaints which the local governments had failed to solve.
Chen Tongmei, 43, a farmer in Hebei Province's Cangzhou City, was the first caught by police on May 15, 2008. Two weeks later, Wang Jinrong, also a villager in Cangzhou, was taken away by police. Two months later, the couple Zhou Qilong, 58, and Li Baofeng, 59, in Cangzhou's Mengcun County were caught, yesterday's Beijing News reported.
Chen and Wang were later sentenced to five years in jail and the couple were each sentenced to two years.
Chen was caught at her home, his brother Chen Tongde said. She had been lodging complaints since 2006 against the local court's verdict in her divorce case in 2000.
Failing to get satisfactory answers from the local governments, she went to Beijing more than 10 times to file the complaints to the higher-level governments.
She asked the court to compensate more than 200,000 yuan (US$29,298) she had spent on the trips, according to Wei Hexin, chief judge of Cangxian People's Court who had handled Chen's divorce case. Wei filed a blackmail charge against Chen on May 5, 2008.
Chen refused to plead guilty and was jailed five years on July 31, 2009, her brother said.
Wang had also repeatedly visited Beijing, complaining against a local court in a medical dispute.
She was sentenced to five years on August 5 last year, the newspaper said.
Both Wang and Chen, residents of Cangzhou's Cangxian County, over-reacted with their complaints and seriously disrupted the local courts, said Cao Qingshan, vice secretary of the county's legal affairs committee.
Cao denied they were punished simply for their repeated trips to Beijing, but for extorting the local governments during their complaints.
The couple in Mengcun County had been visiting Beijing since 2002 to file complaints against the local police, who they claimed had failed to arrange an autopsy for a son who was found dead after going out with some villagers in January 2001.
Chen Tongmei, 43, a farmer in Hebei Province's Cangzhou City, was the first caught by police on May 15, 2008. Two weeks later, Wang Jinrong, also a villager in Cangzhou, was taken away by police. Two months later, the couple Zhou Qilong, 58, and Li Baofeng, 59, in Cangzhou's Mengcun County were caught, yesterday's Beijing News reported.
Chen and Wang were later sentenced to five years in jail and the couple were each sentenced to two years.
Chen was caught at her home, his brother Chen Tongde said. She had been lodging complaints since 2006 against the local court's verdict in her divorce case in 2000.
Failing to get satisfactory answers from the local governments, she went to Beijing more than 10 times to file the complaints to the higher-level governments.
She asked the court to compensate more than 200,000 yuan (US$29,298) she had spent on the trips, according to Wei Hexin, chief judge of Cangxian People's Court who had handled Chen's divorce case. Wei filed a blackmail charge against Chen on May 5, 2008.
Chen refused to plead guilty and was jailed five years on July 31, 2009, her brother said.
Wang had also repeatedly visited Beijing, complaining against a local court in a medical dispute.
She was sentenced to five years on August 5 last year, the newspaper said.
Both Wang and Chen, residents of Cangzhou's Cangxian County, over-reacted with their complaints and seriously disrupted the local courts, said Cao Qingshan, vice secretary of the county's legal affairs committee.
Cao denied they were punished simply for their repeated trips to Beijing, but for extorting the local governments during their complaints.
The couple in Mengcun County had been visiting Beijing since 2002 to file complaints against the local police, who they claimed had failed to arrange an autopsy for a son who was found dead after going out with some villagers in January 2001.
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