Headline: Villagers convicted in land row will appeal
Byline: Minnie Chan
All seven Sanshan villagers jailed by a Foshan court on Tuesday for up to four years for extortion and blackmail in a land dispute have decided to appeal against their convictions, relatives said.
Villagers said a local court would also pronounce judgment today on four of their representatives accused of obstructing a construction project.
Huang Liuxiao , who defended her husband, Cui Yongfa, in court on Tuesday, said the Nanhai District court judge rejected the defence she put forward as well as that submitted by a lawyer on behalf of the only female defendant, Shao Shaobing .
"All of the defendants pleaded not guilty during the trial and will apply to appeal against their convictions," Ms Huang said.
She said Liu Dehuo , Chen Ningbiao and Chen Zhibiao each received a four-year sentence; her husband and two other villagers, Shao Xixia and Guo Jianhua , were jailed for 31/2 years; while Shao Shaobing was ordered to serve 21/2 years.
The seven defendants have been detained by Nanhai police since June last year for extortion and blackmailing the Yingshun Tank Farm, a gas and petrochemical company.
According to the indictment, they told the company to give them 50,000 yuan or they would expose the fact it had taken over 1 hectare of land in Sanshan without approval for use as a construction site.
But villagers said the 50,000-yuan deal had been a trap set by Yingshun because it promised in May to compensate 200 villagers for land losses but later filed a report claiming it had been blackmailed by the seven farmers＇ representatives.
The villagers＇ trial began in January, but Shao Shaobing was the only one of the accused represented by a lawyer.
At least three lawyers who promised to represent the defendants were harassed by gangsters, with Guangxi lawyer Yang Zaixin being beaten up near his home on Sunday and needing more than 10 stitches to his face and scalp.
Shao Shaobing＇s father, Shao Xiguang , 82, said the judge had taken the side of the Yingshun Tank Farm when delivering her verdict.
"They even expelled me from the courtroom after I raised my hand to express my view on the judge＇s unfair comments," Mr Shao said. "There were more than 20 police officers watching me in the small room until the trial finished."
He said Shao Shaobing＇s son, 18, was also detained for several hours for insulting the judge but was released after signing a "self-criticism".
Ms Huang said Luo Jilun and three other villagers would face charges of "obstructing a construction project" by protesting on the construction site, which was sold to an overseas investor for a logistics complex development in January.
In 2005, local officials decided to sell more than 1,200 hectares in Sanshan to overseas investors for industry development. Riots erupted after villagers found the officials had no intention of paying for their land.
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