王科峰律师接受中国日报记者采访

Right before the New Year, Uncle Zhou’s daughter and granddaughter were forced to quite their jobs because Zhou refused to move out of his home located in a village that Liaocheng government was about to remove.

 

Dong, living in the same Village to Zhou, told the story to China Daily.

 

“Two of Zhou’s relatives used to work for the government. But they were fired because Zhou didn’t move out before the government’s deadline (Dec 31^st, 2009). ”

 

Liaocheng government is now carrying out a “one-thousand households’ project”, according to the latest news released on the website of the Information Office of the People’s Government of the Shandong Province.

 

Reportedly the project includes the establishment of 105 “one-thousand households” communities, which will include wide country roads, water supply system, schools and shopping centers.

 

Chenzhuang Village—where Zhou and Dong used to live, was included in the project. However, it has some different meaning for Chenzhuang villagers.

 

“It was a month ago when four representatives of more than two hundred peasant households came to me for legal aid,” says Wang Kefeng（王科峰）, the head of the six-member team on behalf of the villagers.

 

Wang is a lawyer as well as partner of the Yingke Law Firm based-in Beijing, and has been famous in the field of IP，contract and tort etc.

 

The three representatives are Chen jialiang, Qi fuping and ；Xu hongdong.( They are all farmers but Chen is also a leader of thegroup of villager.)

 

“The case is rather typical,” Wang told China Daily, “you know, it is nothing new that some local governments remove peasants’ houses in the name of new socialist countryside construction projects, and thus create a source for deeper conflicts.”

 

Wang’s comment on the “conflict” is valid. Only a month ago, 47-year-old Tang Fuzhen Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan province died from setting herself ablaze in an act of protest against demolition. Her violent act shocked the whole nation, and sparked heated debate over the Regulation on the Dismantlement of Urban Houses.

 

Dong, also one of the representatives, says that they had no choice but to seek legal protection. “We saw Zhou went to the demolition headquarter to shout abuses,” he says in an intense voice, “you know, Uncle Zhou enjoys prestigious in our village, but he failed to get fair treatment.”

 

 

Dong told China Daily that “at least 500 to 600 million yuan ($73 000to $88000) will run into local government’s pocket after they sell the land.”

 

“Take our market place for example. The plot occupies 300 mu which we’ll get 45000 yuan per mu. I had asked other villagers, they told me that they sold similar land at the price of 500 thousand yuan per mu.”

 

But their efforts to safeguard their interests didn’t go smoothly.

 

Chen, an average villager as well as representative, told China Daily “three days ago my name appeared in a piece of report coving this issue. Since then, stranger come my home to seek troubles every day. I haven’t been home for a couple of days and I change my mobile phone number all the time.”

 

Lawyers met with setbacks, too.

 

When lawyer Tu x un and lawyer assistant Zhang jianhui arrived at Chenzhuang Village, the loudspeaker was talking to villagers repeatedly, “Don’t listen to the words of two out-of-town lawyers. Don’t have a daydream, as the compensation has been fixed by the government, there is no chance to bargain.”

 

 

Wang introduced general situation, “The houses of local peasants are located in two different areas which they named as the ‘old village’ and the ‘new village’.”

 

“The old village occupies 500 mu (=33.35 hectares) and was originally house sites, while the new village was firstly plough land covering 400 mu.”

 

According to Wang, the local government has “violated relative laws seriously.”

 

For the new village, the local government is obliged to get permission from the State Council before relocating local residences, according to <Land Management Law of PRC>,<Property Law of PRC>,<Urban Demolition Management Regulations of Shandong Province >，“Yet government officials failed to hand out all the formalities.”

 

“As to the new village, it is illegal for any government organs to collection homestead.”

 

Local residences now pin their hope on higher compensation and more written commitment.

 “That was no fair. People living in the village next to ours got compensation at 3062 yuan per square meter, while this is only 2160 yuan for us. ” Dong says.

 

Wang summarized five terms on the basis of the  eleven claims that the 200 households subscribed:

 

1.       to revise the compensation standard

2.       to provide assistance for the of demolishing of existing country roads

3.       to keep the “new village” as a transshipment until new accommodations are ready for residences

4.       to hand out written commitment on the location of local residences’ new accommodations

5.       to hand out written commitment on the compensation standard of the new village

 

“The role of the lawyer is to help the two sides to achieve reconciliation,” says Wang, “we can’t want it turning into mass turbulence.”