A Chinese court has refused to hear a landmark lawsuit by hundreds of private investors whose oil wells were seized by the state and police have detained their lawyer, people familiar with the case said on Tuesday.
The detention of Zhu Jiuhu, a widely respected lawyer, by authorities in China’s northern province of Shaanxi has dealt a heavy blow to the campaign by oil entrepreneurs to challenge the provincial government’s seizure of thousands of oil wells worth Rmb7bn (¬£465m).
However, the action against Mr Zhu and the refusal of the provincial Higher People’s Court to accept what would be China’s biggest private lawsuit against the state is also likely to undermine confidence in China’s commitment to legal process and protection of private property.
People familiar with the situation said at least five oil investors’ representatives had also been detained by local authorities.
A judicial official in Jingbian, an oil-rich but otherwise impoverished county in northern Shaanxi, said Mr Zhu was being held on suspicion of “illegal assembly and disturbing the social order”.
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