From Reuters:
China has detained at least three farmers on subversion charges for making bold calls for private land ownership in the countryside, an attempt to curb land seizures by corrupt officials, their families said on Monday.
Police in Huayin in the northwestern province of Shaanxi made the “criminal detentions” earlier this month, suspecting the three of “inciting to subvert state power”, Ruan Xiuqin, wife of Chen Sizhong, one of the farmers, told Reuters by telephone.
Chen, Zhang Sanmin and Xi Xinji were among the six peasants who signed an open letter declaring that 70,000 farmers in the region enjoyed permanent private ownership of 10,000 hectares of collective land, said Ruan and Liu Cuiying, Zhang’s wife. [Full Text]
Read also This Land Is My Land! by Gordon G. Chang.
