His outspokenness earned him many years in prison and a hefty fine.
Chinese billionaire Sun Dawu, who regularly criticizes Beijing's power, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for a series of offenses and embezzlement, a Chinese court said on Wednesday.
The trial of this self-taught 67-year-old media boss, leader of a group specializing in agriculture, was judged by his supporters as emblematic of the way in which the communist regime perceives the powerful tycoons of the private sector.
According to a statement from the Gaobeidian People's Court in Hebei Province, in the north of the country, where he was on trial, Sun Dawu was sentenced to 18 years in prison and fined 3.11 million yuan or 405,000 euros. .
This heavy penalty is justified by a long list of convictions for "illegal mining", "illegal occupation of agricultural land", "obstructing the public service", "gathering a crowd to attack organs of the State ”or“ provocation to unrest ”.
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This last accusation, with a vague title, is often used against opponents.
The food mogul, family members and employees were arrested in late 2020 following a land dispute with a Hebei state farm.
Sun Dawu had founded the Dawu Group in 1984 as a family business raising chickens and pigs.
He has since transformed it into a huge empire covering health and tourism as well.
It is one of the leading companies in the agricultural sector in northern China.
It also opened schools and hospitals.
Regular criticism of power
The sentence is one of the heaviest pronounced in recent years by the Chinese justice against a critic of power. It equals that inflicted last year on another wealthy boss, Ren Zhiqiang, convicted of corruption. Nicknamed "the Canon" for his diatribes against power, Ren Zhiqiang dared to compare President Xi Jinping to "a clown" for his role in the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic. Known for his outspokenness, Sun Dawu had also vehemently criticized the authorities for their management of the pandemic. He had already stood out in 2019 during a devastating epidemic of swine fever in the country, which caused the slaughter of millions of heads. He had posted photos of dead pigs online to alert the media and accused local officials of being lax about the disease.
A regular critic of rural policies, Sun Dawu calls for farmers to be more free to organize to protect their economic interests.
Sign of the sensitivity of his trial, a strong police presence was visible near the court, according to a video shared by his lawyer.
The trial "violated judicial standards and the rights of the accused were not guaranteed," said the latter in a statement.
Sun Dawu had his first run-in with the law in 2003. He was then sentenced to four years in prison for "illegal fundraising" after being found guilty of raising 13 million yuan (1.7 million euros at the current rate) for his company, without authorization from the central bank.