China jails anti-corruption protest leader for bribery

A protest leader from a Chinese village which became a symbol of resistance against corruption was sentenced to three years in prison for bribery today, state media said.
Lin Zulian, elected head of the village of Wukan in rare open polls after residents expelled local officials in a mass 2011 uprising which drew global attention, was convicted of corruption, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The 70-year-old confessed to accepting bribes worth some USD 590,000 yuan (USD 90,000) at his trial in the nearby city of Foshan and vowed not to appeal the verdict, it added.
Lin was detained in June and was shown on state TV admitting to taking bribes in a video recorded while he was under interrogation and released by prosecutors.

"Due to my lack of understanding of law, in many projects related to people's livelihoods... And in some collective purchases I took huge kickbacks," state-media quoted Lin as saying.
Dozens of Wukan locals marched in front of ranks of security officers after Lin was arrested, waving red flags and protesting his innocence, videos posted online showed.

Local authorities have warned villagers to stop protesting, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported.
The newspaper added security was "ultra-tight" outside the court in Foshan, with uniformed officers patrolling around a 1 kilometre radius.
Residents of the 13,000-strong fishing village in the southern province of Guangdong began protesting against what they called illegal land-grabs in 2011 in what was then seen as just another bout of social unrest in China, where tens of thousands of such incidents occur each year.

But when a protest leader died in police custody, villagers took their demonstration a step further, barricading roads leading into Wukan, and effectively expelling security forces for more than a week.
Communist Party authorities unexpectedly backed down and promised rare concessions, including pledges to investigate the land dispute and allow village polls to be held in an open manner -- a first in Wukan.
Lin -- who also led the protests -- was one of the successful contenders.