A man from China's Shandong province has been jailed for defaming a local government. The only tricky part is, no such crime insist. "The crime of 'defaming the government, is a creation by a local court," said He Bing, professor with China University of Political Science and Law quoted in Shanghai Daily.
The man in question, Wu Baoquan, had started protests over land compensation on behalf of a friend from the city of Erdos, in Inner Mongolia. In an all to familiar move, the local government of that region had claimed land from farmers, who were promised other areas and farming facilities as compensation for the lost land. To no one's surprise, the authorities did not do as they had promised. Wu made the story public, by posting what he knew about it online.
After farmers had gathered to protest and gotten brutally dispersed by police, Wu was detained for ten days. After his release, he continued to research and post about what had happened online. This led to his second arrest and a two year sentence for defaming the government of Erdos city.
We're sure that the fact that there really isn't such a crime in the Chinese legal system is a great comfort to Wu. Or not.
Illustration by royblumenthal
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