Farmers jailed after complaints to Beijing

By Jane Chen | February 25, 2010, Thursday |

Online Edition

AT least four farmers in a north China city have been jailed for blackmailing their local government in separate cases after officials failed to solve their complaints, which they took to Beijing.

Chen Tongmei, 43, a farmer in Cangxian County of Hebei Province's Cangzhou City, was the first to be caught by police on May 15, 2008. Two weeks later, Wang Jinrong, also a villager in Cangxian, was taken away by police. Two months later, couple Zhou Qilong, 58, and Li Baofeng, 59, in nearby Mengcun County were caught, today's Beijing News reported.

Chen and Wang were later jailed for five years and the couple was each sentenced to two years.

Chen had filed more than 10 complaints in Beijing about her divorce settlement since 2006 alleging injustice by the local court, the report said. She asked the court to compensate her 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 charge of blackmail against Chen on May 5, 2008. She denied the charge and was jailed for five years on July 31, 2009, her brother said.

They weren't punished for their repeated trips to Beijing, but because they extorted local government officials during their complaints, according to Cao Qingshan, vice secretary of Cangxian's political and law committee.

Nation

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Farmers jailed after complaints to Beijing

Email this to your friend