Outspoken Chinese Industrialist Gets 18-Year Sentence
for Causing Public Disorder, Other Offenses
By Chun Han Wong, 7/28/21, Wall St. Journal

HONG KONG—A Chinese court sentenced an outspoken farming
magnate to 18 years in jail for allegedly causing public
disorder & a multitude of other offenses, dishing out heavy
penalties in a case seen as a bellwether of the growing
political risks that confront private businesses in China.

Sun Dawu, 67 years old, was convicted Wednesday of crimes
that included agitating crowds against state organs,
illegal fundraising & unlawful occupation of farmland, a
municipal court in the northern city of Gaobeidian said
in a notice published on its website. He was also fined
about 3.1 million yuan, the equivalent of about $405,500.

Sun’s company, Dawu Agricultural & Animal Husbandry Group,
had been publicly feuding with a state-owned farm in China’s
northern city of Baoding over a long-running land dispute
when police detained him, members of his family & other
senior Dawu execs in November.

Prosecutors formally brought charges in May against Sun,
his company & 19 other defendants, including 2 brothers &
2 sons of Sun. The trial started in July & lasted roughly
2 weeks, in proceedings that defense lawyers involved say
were conducted with unusual urgency.

The court said Dawu Group & other defendants were given
“corresponding penalties,” but didn’t provide details.
Sun’s 19 fellow defendants were given jail sentences ranging
from 1-12 years, though some sentences were suspended, their
defense team said. The company meanwhile was ordered to pay
the equivalent of over $166 million in fines, restitution &
refunds for money they were deemed to have raised illegally,
the defense team said.

The case against Sun, who has gained prominence in China
speaking up for farmers & rural businesses, has rippled
thru Chinese social media & unnerved many within the
country’s legal & business circles.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, since taking power in late 2012,
has sought to strengthen Communist Party control over the
economy, bolstering support for state enterprises while
demanding that private businesses show loyalty to the party
& serve the state’s interests.

Though Xi has pledged to strengthen rule of law & provide
more support for entrepreneurs, some local govts have
intervened in commercial disputes in favor of state
businesses, such as by applying legal tools to pressure
their private-sector rivals, Chinese lawyers say.

Lawyers involved in the Dawu case have accused authorities
of handling the prosecution with undue haste, saying they
were given less than 2 weeks to read thru about 350 sets
of case files. In a statement issued Wednesday after the
verdict, the lawyers said the case was handled at a speed
that suggested that “this wasn’t a normal legal trial.”

The court in Gaobeidian, a city administered by Baoding’s
govt, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Calls to the Gaobeidian prosecutors’ office after business
hours went unanswered.

Sun & the other defendants have remained in custody since
their detention in November. They couldn’t be reached for
comment. The defense team said in their statement that
many of the defendants pleaded not guilty during their
trial, & the team plans to help their clients file appeals.

“Is it dangerous when private businesses grow big? Is it
not dangerous when state-run enterprises grow big?” Sun
told the court on Wednesday, acc. to a transcript provided
by the defense team. “I really hope that Dawu Group’s
experience can let President Xi know that the implement-
ation of socialism can work & can withstand examination
from everyone.”

In his statement, Sun sought leniency for his company.
“It’d be best for me to admit guilt & wrongdoing, for me
to bear the burden,” he was quoted as saying. After the
verdict was announced, Sun told his lawyer that he wants
to appeal against his conviction, acc. to the defense team.

Some of Sun’s supporters took to social media to voice
dismay with the verdict. “His life is full of legend &
struggle, & his circumstances are the common circumstances
of Chinese private enterprises,” Zhao Xiangsong, a blogger,
wrote on his verified Weibo social-media account. “How the
rights of private enterprises can truly be protected is a
matter that concerns the future & fate of this country.”

A former soldier who became a farmer & entrepreneur, Sun
founded Dawu Group in the 80s as a pig & chicken-farming
business in his home province of Hebei, & grew its ops
to include fertilizers, tourism & other interests.

Sun had previously clashed with the govt. In 2003, he was
detained & handed a suspended jail sentence for illegal
fundraising after speaking up about the difficulties that
rural businesses face when borrowing money—a speech at the
prestigious Peking University that won him widespread acclaim.

More recently, Sun has voiced support for human-rights
lawyers & criticized local officials over their alleged
mishandling of the African swine fever epidemic that has
decimated hog farms, as well as what he described as the
unfair treatment of his company.

Sun’s musings on social issues won him respect from
liberal-minded intellectuals, while business schools have
cited his innovative corporate practices in case studies.

Dawu’s latest predicament appears to be linked to a land
dispute between rural residents & a local state-run farm,
acc. to the co’s social-media posts. The spat escalated
in Aug last year when state-farm personnel allegedly
attempted to demolish a Dawu office in the middle of the
night. Local police intervened after Dawu workers &
villagers clashed with state-farm personnel, an incident
that left over 20 people injured, acc. to Dawu’s accounts
of the event.

Since police detained Sun & other Dawu execs last year,
local officials have stepped in to manage the group’s ops,
including a hospital & a middle school. The fate of the
company was unclear following Wednesday’s verdict.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/outspoken-chinese-industrialist-gets-18-year-sentence-for-causing-public-disorder-other-offenses-11627481411