Li Bifeng's 12-year jail term 'revenge' for helping dissident Liao Yiwu flee
Friend denies Li Bifeng funded his escape as writer gets 12 years on contract fraud charges
A Sichuan court jailed writer Li Bifeng for 12 years yesterday on fraud charges, his lawyer said.
Li's supporters said the authorities suspected he helped dissident author Liao Yiwu flee the country last year.
The Shehong County People's Court in Suining jailed Li, 48, for "contract fraud", fining him 300,000 yuan (HK$372,000), his lawyer Ma Xiaopeng said.
The court indictment, posted online, said Li, also a businessman, signed a contract to buy 63 properties for 33 million yuan from a company two years ago. He paid 20 million but failed to pay the remainder by the deadline, voiding the contract, it said.
Ma said Li did not pay the remainder because a new property regulation, aimed at suppressing speculation, came into force after the signing of the contract. It said each person could only buy one property and Li decided he could not go ahead with the purchase.
"The court failed to prove any losses suffered by the other side," Ma said, stressing the ownership of the properties was never transferred to Li so the case did not amount to fraud.
The Shehong county court refused to comment yesterday.