Lü Jiangbo (吕江波)
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Lü Jiangbo 吕江波
Current Detention
Crimes: obstructing official business, extortion, undermining elections, seizing a post, obstructing testimony, accepting bribes from non-state workers
Length of Punishment: 11 years’ imprisonment
Court: Jinjiang Intermediate People’s Court
Trial date: September 9-10, 2010
Sentencing: October 28, 2010
Dates of Detention/Arrest: February 2010 (detained); April 19, 2010 (arrested)
Place of Detention: Jinjiang Prison (Jinjiang City, Fujian Province)
Indictment: Fujian Province Jinjiang City People’s Procuratorate Indictment(Chinese)
Defence Statement: First-Instance Trial (Chinese)
Background
Lü Jiangbo, a businessman-turned-village chief from Jinjiang City, Fujian Province, organized residents of Keren Village to defend their rights in the face of illegal land requisition by government officials. Among his activities, he co-authored a public letter to then-Premier Zhu Rongji complaining of the land grabs. Born June 8, 1965, Lü was charged with multiple crimes, all of them relate to his alleged misuse of power when he was an elected leader, and he was held in shuanggui (双规), a form of extralegal detention specifically for Party officials, for 50 days. Before taking on his hometown government, state-run publications had once heralded Lü as an example of the type of “people of ability” filling leadership roles in rural communities.
Initially detained on suspicion of “obstructing official business,” Lü was convicted on five additional charges in the fall of 2010. Lü testified during his trial that he was tortured to confess while in police custody, and he displayed scars from the abuse he suffered. Convicted with eight other villagers who had resisted the government’s actions, Lü’s sentence was disproportionately severe, testifying to local officials’ concerns over his influence and extent of retaliation desired against him.
Further Information
Submission to UN on Lü Jiangbo, April 26, 2013, CHRD
Heavy Sentence for Elected Fujian Village Director, Leader in Fight against Illegal Land Expropriation, November 2, 2010, CHRD