Labour camp inmate attacks payout for 'mishandled' case over online Bo Xilai joke
Ex-grocery store owner criticises compensation for 'mishandled' sentence over 2011 online joke
A Chongqing court has granted compensation to a man sentenced to two years in a labour camp for publishing a provocative comment online during the heyday of disgraced party boss Bo Xilai.
The Bishan county court ordered the government to pay Huang Chengcheng, 134,000 yuan (HK$168,000) as compensation for "mishandling" the case, which stemmed from a 2011 internet posting in which Huang urged his friends to gather and "drink jasmine tea".
Huang, 30, said he intended the comment - a reference to the "jasmine" uprisings then sweeping the Arab world - to be a joke.
The former grocery store owner, who was released in December after serving 21 months in a labour camp, said he was disappointed that court's award had fallen far short of his demand for 680,000 yuan.
"I'm not satisfied with the compensation," Huang told the Sunday Morning Post. "The time in the labour camp ruined my life and now people treat me like a criminal."
The award, including 116,000 yuan in financial compensation and 18,000 yuan for mental suffering, amounts to about 182 yuan for each day of his original sentence.