China ramps up security as Wukan village chief Lin Zuluan jailed, fined for bribery
Special police with dogs block streets in 1km radius of Foshan courthouse as Lin ordered to serve 37 months behind bars
The elected leader of a Guangdong village that made headlines for anticorruption protests five years ago, was sentenced on Thursday to more than three years in jail and fined 200,000 yuan (HK$233,000) for taking bribes.
Lin Zuluan, 70, pleaded guilty to two corruption charges in the Chancheng district court in Foshan,Southcn.com, a provincial online portal, reported.
Lin was found guilty of taking more than 440,000 yuan in bribes in relation to building projects in Wukan and 150,000 yuan in kickbacks in other deals on behalf of the village committee, according to the report. The court found Lin not guilty of a separate charge of rigging bids for official contracts.
Upset by the verdict, Lin’s family said they felt cheated by the “injustice” of the trial. They said they had cooperated with the authorities and thought Lin would get a suspended sentence.
Five years since landmark protests, Chinese village stirs again
A relative said the trial was “non-transparent”, “unfair” and “unjust”. “The court had 30 seats for the public. Twenty of these were occupied by outsiders chosen at random by the court, five were reserved for appointed village members, and rest went to three family members and the two state security agents watching us,” the relative said.
