The Epoch Times recently reported on 3,000 farmers from 676 families in 10 villages of Putian City in Fujian Province who are protesting a land-grab by the local authorities. The farmers have sued the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) State Council for inaction in handling their cases. They have also planned to apply for permission to do a protest-parade in Beijing. This news caught MBC’s attention, and they sent three reporters to Fujian to conduct interviews with the farmers and their attorney.
Commissioned by the 676 farmer families, attorney Huang Weizhong handled ten associated cases, and completed all legal procedure based on China’s current written laws. However, to the disappointment of the farmers, the authorities’ response to the legal petitions was to take no action.
On January 11, Huang applied for legal supervision from the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress and sent a “legal supervision application” and “indictment” via express post to the Supreme People’s Court.
Huang has not yet received a response to his requests. He plans to submit petitions to the United Nations Human Rights Council as the farmers have not received any relief from the CCP.
MBC sent a reporter, a cameraman, and an interpreter to Huang’s house on January 21 to January 23 to conduct interviews. Huang presented the reporters with the documents related to the case and took them to several of the farms taken over by the authorities. Although the reporters were not obstructed during the filming, there were people observed following them during the filming on the outskirts of the city.
Huang was very grateful that the South Korean media had taken the time and interest to conduct the interviews because he said the Chinese mainland media do not dare to report such news.
Huang has suffered retaliation from the CCP for his efforts in helping these farmers to appeal in Fujian and Beijing. Although he was working within the guidelines of the written Chinese laws, Huang was jailed for three years for his actions to help the farmers. Upon release from prison, Huang continued to fight for the farmers’ rights. He said that defending the rights of farmers is very difficult and time consuming, but he would continue on this path despite risks to his own safety. Huang called upon all disadvantaged people to unite together to fight for their rights.
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