News Desk
BEIJING: A Chinese court on Wednesday jailed a billionaire farming tycoon for 18 years on charges of “provoking trouble” after a two-week trial shrouded in secrecy.
Judges in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun Dawu was found guilty behind closed doors of a range of crimes, handing him a fine of 3.11 million yuan ($480,000, €406,000) in addition to the custodial sentence.
They included “gathering a crowd to attack state organs, obstructing government administration, and picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
The latter charge is a catch-all term often used by Chinese authorities against dissidents. Police arrested Sun in November along with as many as 20 relatives and business partners.
The arrests came as his firm became embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned rival.
Sun built up his Dawu Agricultural and Pastoral Group into a multi-million dollar business over the past three decades.
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