Authorities plan to release a Chinese lawyer who was imprisoned after helping residents sue a prominent real estate developer, but are imposing burdensome procedures likely to delay his return home, a human rights group said yesterday.
That treatment would contrast sharply with last month's release of the developer, who had been imprisoned for fraud and stock manipulation. He was allowed to go directly to his luxury villa after his sentence, the New York-based Human Rights in China said.
Zheng Enchong (
But authorities have made special arrangements for his release aimed at "guaranteeing his personal safety," including stops at two police stations in two days, the group said.
A police vehicle will take him to the first police station where he will be deprived of his political rights, a common punishment for criminals in China, the group said. On Tuesday, he will be taken to a second station where his personal papers will be processed, it said.
The real estate developer that the Shanghai residents were suing was Zhou Zhengyi (
"Zhou emerged unaccompanied from Tilanqiao prison and left in a private car that took him directly to his luxury villa in Shanghai's western suburbs," the group said.
Officials who answered telephones at the Tilanqiao prison and the two police stations refused to comment on Zheng's case. A spokesman who declined to be named at the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau said he was not authorized to answer questions.
Zheng's wife, Jiang Meili (
Details of the charges against Zheng have not be released. Prior to his arrest, he had been advising the Shanghai residents in the lawsuit against Zhou over the demolition of their homes and what they say is his failure to compensate them adequately.
Zhou, once ranked by Forbes magazine as China's 11th-richest man, was released after serving an unusually light three-year sentence, possibly because of his rumored connections to top politicians.
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