Why Sun Dawu lamented that life is better than death

In contrast to many high-ranking Communist Party officials who admitted their guilt in court and expressed gratitude for the “Party’s care,” Sun Dawu, a well-known farmer-entrepreneur who was indicted on nine counts of allegedly provoking and provoking trouble, and many other defendants, maintained their innocence.

But this tough guy, as many see him, made a shocking statement in court when he said he was “suffering so much in prison that life is worse than death.” At the very least, this statement reveals how brutal the authorities are in their practice of torture!

The China Network of Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a group of NGOs, tweeted that seven of the defendants in the Dawu case were placed under residential surveillance, during which time they were subjected to brutal and inhumane treatment. They provided relevant clues during the trial and filed a motion to exclude illegal evidence with the court, but the court rejected it. Sun Dawu said, “During the period of the alleged residence, I suffered so much that life was worse than death!” Sun Dawu added, “I had asked to go to the detention center and went on a hunger strike for three days for that purpose.”

Scholar Sheng Hong pointed out in the “Legal Due Process on the Dawu Incident” “Note by Sheng” that “the authorities say that China is a ‘rule of law country,’ but of course they know very well that this is only in words. The record of the prosecution and defense on the first day of the Dawu trial clearly reveals the actual illegal detention and torture. This is a widespread form of pretrial torture in this country,” including overstaying detention, denial of bail without just cause, illegal residential surveillance, restriction of basic freedoms, sleep disturbance, and psychological threats. This is done in retaliation, to show off abusive powers, and to coerce confessions.

The author argues that “as soon as the person says ‘not voluntarily,’ that confession can be dispatched immediately, and there is no need to prove the existence of torture at all. Because ‘voluntary’ can only come from the person’s own mouth, when he says ‘not voluntary,’ he must have been forced to do so, and Sun Dawu saying ‘life is worse than death’ is somehow stronger than How many times stronger than ‘not voluntary’ is not accepted. “

On July 15, Sun Dawu case in Hebei Province Gaobeidian City Court, the first trial court session. The main charges are alleged provocation and nuisance, obstruction of public service, the crime of gathering a crowd to impact the state organs and other nine charges.

Dawu case legal team revealed two points of information, in the pre-trial conference held on May 17-22, due to the hasty convening, there is not enough time to read the file, in violation of the right to read the file, the right to defend the case, the prosecution, defense and trial of the three parties had broken out into heated arguments, the meeting site lawyer protests, the defendant cried, hardly reached any consensus. Sun Dawu is in the pre-trial meeting to say “suffering, life is worse than death”.

The first day of the end of the trial issued an introductory statement pointed out that the case is called a public trial, but the number of spectators is limited, Dawu Group has about nine thousand employees, only 30 family members and staff to obtain a pass to observe the trial, and the court also to prevent epidemics, space restrictions, placed in other courts to observe the trial by video. Most of the family members reported that the video viewing was not clear and the sound was intermittent. At the time of the hearing, CCTV was installed everywhere within 100 meters of the court, and at the entrance of the court, plainclothes public security officers dressed in black asked people present and concerned about the case to leave.

Sun Dawu in China has the title of “entrepreneur with a conscience”, in 1985 to raise 1,000 chickens and 50 pigs seven home, founded Dawu Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Group, ranked among the top 500 private enterprises in China. Sun Dawu runs schools and hospitals, stipulating that villagers are only charged RMB 10 yuan per day for medical treatment and meals for students, which is well received by the public.

Sun also offended the authorities with his outspokenness and his penchant for commenting on current events. In 2003, Dawu Group published a series of articles on its website, including “A Tribute to Li Shenzhi”, “A Dialogue between Two Private Businessmen on China’s Current Situation and History”, and “The Construction of a Well-off Society and its History”. “The authorities ordered the website to be reorganized and suspended for six months. Plus borrowing from three thousand farmers, he was arrested in May of that year and sentenced to three years probation for four years.

Sun Dawu said in a Weibo post on October 13, 2020: “Some people say, what do you mean by social blackness? The sunny day, you can not see the truth of the matter; bustling, you can not hear the different voices; power and authority of the rampant bullying, justifiable inch difficult to walk; live to see ghosts in the daytime, dead to see people at night”.

Last November 11, the police arrested him and his wife, two sons and daughters-in-law, company executives and 28 other people in one fell swoop. It was not until April 22 that the imprisoned Sun Dawu and his relatives, as well as senior officials of the company, received the arrest notice.

Sun Dawu case in 2003 ended up with a suspended sentence, some people analyzed, the year the rights movement was booming, Sun case got a relatively good result, now the party celebrated the centennial, the doom of entrepreneurs came, Ren Zhiqiang was sentenced to 18 years, Ma Yun vaguely, dropping eight ministries into ……

The environment is not good, Sun Dawu case opening has entered the second day, some people observe, China’s domestic media collective silence, only a few private number carefully whispered a few words. Liu Xiaoyuan lawyer lamented: for a very influential case in the country, the media “seem to be suffering from aphasia”.