On July 28, in the closing statements at his trial, 67-year-old Sun Dawu made an impassioned plea for leniency from the Chinese court officials who that day sentenced him to 18 years in prison.
The renowned agricultural entrepreneur, along with family members and colleagues, had spent months in China’s harrowing “residential surveillance” detention system after being arrested last November. Their case went to trial just days after charges were brought to court, leaving the defense hardly any time to review the 348 volumes of case documents.
