Organizer of Land-Seizure Protest in China Is Sentenced

Huang Weizhong, a farmer who led several hundred villagers in a fight to keep their land from being seized by the local government, has been sentenced to three years in prison by a local court for gathering a crowd to disturb social order.

Rule of law is patchy in China, and vague legal charges such as disturbing social order are frequently employed against those who challenge authority.

“We are furious,” said Huang’s older brother, 54-year old Huang Weide. “The court wouldn’t even let us have our say. Much of their so-called evidence was lies.

“We’ll continue fighting.”

The decision was handed down last week by the People’s Court of Chengxiang District, Putian City, in Fujian province. Huang’s family has filed an appeal.

Huang, 46, studied law on his own and filed dozens of legal challenges over an extended period in a bid to prevent hundreds of fellow farmers in Yanshou and 10 neighboring villages from falling victim to what they say is an illegal land grab.

Local officials offered the farmers $2,800 per mu, about one-sixth of an acre, which is low even by Chinese standards. The officials had already pre-sold the land, reportedly earmarked to build luxury villas, to a developer for $92,800 per mu.

Officially there is no private land ownership in China. This allows local officials to exploit a loophole whereby they seize property as public land, offer farmers a small sum, change the land’s status and sell it to private-sector developers for a considerable profit.

As resentment has deepened across China, senior Communist Party officials have instructed local officials to end illegal land seizures. They have also introduced a rural reform program, including subsidies and tax cuts, aimed at narrowing the gap between rich and poor.

Local governments are often a law unto themselves, however. As a result, desperate farmers facing off against powerful local officials tend to see their appeals bulldozed along with their land.

From 1998 to 2005, there were more than 1 million cases of illegal seizure across China involving at least 815,447 acres, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.

Several clashes between pitchfork-wielding farmers and well-armed police in Guangdong province have turned deadly in recent months. In Dongzhou village, police opened fire in December on farmers angry over seizure of land for a wind-power plant. At least three villagers were killed.

Lu Guang, an attorney representing Huang, said last week’s court verdict violated the evidence and Chinese law.

In the appeal filed with the Putian Intermediate Court, Lu claims the lower court heard only evidence presented by the public prosecutor, ignoring evidence in support of Huang.

Officials at the court and the prosecutor’s office were not immediately available for comment.

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Gu Bo in The Times’ Beijing Bureau contributed to this report.