Wife seeking redress over death of husband in custody is jailed for ‘blackmailing government’
Lawyers say charge is ludicrous, as only people can be blackmailed, not the government
A petitioner in northeast China was jailed for three years for blackmailing the government, even though lawyers said chat history suggest the charges were trumped up, mainland media reports.
Ge Limei, from Shoushan village, Harbin, in Heilongjiang province became a petitioner after her husband Li Jidong died in 2010 while serving a jail sentence for an unspecified crime.
The official autopsy said Li died of malnutrition, but Ge insisted that she saw bruises on her husband’s body, The Beijing News reported.
She applied for compensation but was turned down.
READ MORE: China bans the locking up of petitioners seeking government redress
Ge started petitioning in Beijing in 2013 and was arrested for blackmailing this June.
“Ge bargained with government officials and refused to return unless she got what she wanted, citing financial difficulty,” the verdict said.
The local government had given Ge 45,000 yuan (HK$54,500) after she resorted to “abnormal petitioning rather than filing a lawsuit”, it added.
Shu Xiangxin, Ge’s lawyer doubted the verdict, saying chat history of messages on her phone suggested that Ge had repeatedly stated that she had sought a legal solution to the case instead of money.
Hong Daode, a law professor with China University of Political Science and Law, said that under mainland law, victims of blackmail had to be a person, and the government was not a person.
The appeal will be heard next month.
