New | Second leader of rebel village Wukan detained on graft charges

Chinese prosecutors have detained on bribery charges a deputy chief of a village which attracted worldwide attention when it rebelled against its Communist leaders, a local government website said.

Hong Ruichao, one of the leaders of the 2011 uprising in the southern village of Wukan which saw locals drive out Communist Party officials accused of illegal land grabs, was held on Wednesday, according to the official Weibo microblog of Lufeng city, which administers Wukan.

The report suggests a further blow to villagers’ hopes of retrieving their land after state-run media reported that another deputy chief, Yang Semao, was detained on similar charges last week.

The Lufeng city government said that the bribery charges against Hong were connected to “building projects”, without giving details.

Some villagers insisted Hong was innocent. “This is arbitrary and illegal, we call for the release of Hong,” Wukan resident Zhuang Liehong wrote on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

In 2011 the villagers of Wukan mounted huge protests, and only relented when provincial authorities granted elections -- seen as a breakthrough for citizens’ rights in a state that quashes unrest when local officials requisition land to sell to developers at huge profit.