Southern Rural Newspaper reported on December 5: "Now we are scared by the government." On the morning of November 13, Dong Rimao, a villager from Wabei Village Group in Nawei Town, Huazhou City, Guangdong Province, pushed open the door of the reporter's room and looked back at the corridor of the hotel.
"Even if we are caught again, we will appeal to the end." After Dong Rimao entered the room, he took off his thick coat while saying. After a sudden heavy rain, the weather in Huazhou was particularly cold.
Just one and a half days ago, Dong Rimao, Dong Mingwei and five others had just walked out of the gate of the Detention Center of Huazhou City.
Villagers were detained after petitioning in Guangzhou
Although they were defined as "illegal petitioning" and detained, none of the six villagers who were imprisoned for more than 10 days received either a detention notice or a release notice.
"The Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission has given instructions!" At about 10 o'clock on the morning of October 27, Dong Mingwei, the head of the Wabei Village Group, stepped out of the petition office of the Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission and waved the petition reply form to the more than 20 villagers waiting outside the commission and said loudly.
When they saw the instruction written as "The Petition Office of Maoming Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission, Dong Mingwei and 32 others petitioned to the province, reflecting that the town government forged land requisition agreements and forcibly requisitioned land and other issues. Now they are introduced to your office, please deal with it in time", the villagers of Wabei Village, who have ten years of rights protection experience, all cheered up.
Subsequently, according to the instructions of the Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission, Dong Mingwei and three others went to the Discipline Inspection Commission of Maoming City with the petition reply form, and the other villagers took the bus back to Huazhou.
"That night they (town government personnel) came back empty-handed." On November 13, Dong Rimao told the Southern Rural Newspaper reporter that he and Dong Maozhi, two "old petitioners," did not return to Nawei Town on the night of October 27 after learning the message that "Town Government people were already waiting on the way," thus "luckily escaping."
However, the luck of the two did not last more than 12 hours. In the morning of October 28, Dong Rimao was just at the construction site (the owners who purchased the land of Wabei Village started construction uniformly at 28 in the morning) when he was "pinned to the ground" by the police waiting there. Dong Maozhi was "caught red-handed" at his doorstep.
At around 9 o'clock in the morning, Dong Rimao and Dong Maozhi were sent to the Public Security Bureau of Huazhou City. During the interrogation conducted on that day, neither of them admitted that they belonged to "illegal petitioning". At around 2 o'clock in the morning on the 29th, the two were sent to the Detention Center of Huazhou City.
Meanwhile, villager Dong Junjun was also sent to the city's Detention Center. Six days later, the group leader Dong Mingwei and three others were also sent to the Detention Center to "join" the villagers who had arrived earlier. According to Dong Mingwei's introduction, the three were caught by the Nawei Town Police Station at the entrance of the Provincial Petition Bureau, although they had been "very careful" and waited until the Petition Bureau closed before daring to walk out.
Subsequently, the six were broadcast as negative examples of "illegal petitioning" on the local TV station's "Juzhou Focus" program, and a lawyer explained various penalties for illegal petitioning in the program.
"Since we have already become illegal, you (government) should act according to law." Dong Rimao said that although they were defined as "illegal petitioning" and detained, none of the six villagers who were imprisoned for more than 10 days received either a detention notice or a release notice. For this reason, he had negotiated with the Town Government and public security departments many times, but no results were obtained.
Three land requisition agreements suspected of forgery
The seal of Yan Qiang, the person in charge of Wabei Village, on the agreement was later confirmed by Yan Qiang to be forged... On December 10, the land requisition area and compensation amount in the agreement were modified...
The issue of the town government forging land requisition agreements reflected by Wabei villagers began with the expansion and reconstruction of the provincial road Meishi Line in 1995.
In April 1995, in order to solve the funding gap of 30 million yuan needed for the expansion and reconstruction of the Meishi Line, Nawei Town decided to adopt the policy of "using land to maintain roads" and applied to the land department for the requisition of about 500 mu of land on both sides of the Ring East Road in Nawei Town, which belongs to Nawei, Jinju, and Dongmen management areas (the predecessor of the village committee - editor's note), as the land for building farmers' markets, industrial transportation, and commercial housing.
On May 16 of that year, the Land and Resources Bureau of Huazhou City issued the "Notice on Improving the Overall Planning of the Town Construction in Nawei and Raising Funds to Expand and Reconstruct the Meishi Line Control and Expropriate Land", agreeing to the requisition application of the Nawei Town Government.
In August of that year, part of the land in Wabei Village located on the west side of the Ring East Road began to be expropriated. However, apart from participating in one land measurement and being informed that the land would be used to build a new teacher's village, the March 8th playground, and the Donghu Park, the villagers were completely unaware of the land requisition agreement, government approval documents, and compensation standards. Of course, the villagers also did not know about the town government's "use land to maintain roads" policy.
Regarding the expansion of the Meishi Line, at that time, a total of 4.8 mu of land in Wabei Village was occupied, and the villagers have still not received compensation to this day.
On August 31, 1999, some seedlings planted by the villagers on the abandoned land for four years were pulled out by the town government. Subsequently, part of the land in the new teacher's village was transferred to strangers named Guo Zhen and Guo Rong. The successive incidents made the villagers feel that the town government's land requisition was actually for "land speculation and profit-making." Starting from 1999, the villagers began to report the situation to relevant departments step by step.
"There is no land requisition agreement." After petitioning, the villagers learned that there were a total of three land requisition agreements related to Wabei Village, signed on February 15, May 20, and December 10, 1995. The agreements dated February 15 and May 20 were signed between the Nawei Town Government and the Nawei Management Area, and the seal of Yan Qiang, the person in charge of Wabei Village, on the agreement was later confirmed by Yan Qiang to be forged. And according to the identification by the Southwest University of Political Science and Law Judicial Identification Center, both the land requisition area and the compensation amount in the December 10 agreement were modified; the area changed from 4.87 mu to 34.87 mu, and the amount changed from 146,160 yuan to 1,046,160 yuan.
At the same time, the villagers also accused the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau of overstepping its authority to approve land. According to the "Guangdong Province Land Management Implementation Measures" revised in 1991, the county-level people's government could approve less than three mu of cultivated land (including paddy fields, vegetable fields, dry fields, orchards, and fish ponds) and less than ten mu of other types of land. However, the approval documents No. 39 and No. 46 issued by the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau in 1995 approved the requisition of 20 mu and 11 mu of land in Wabei Village respectively. Moreover, apart from these two approval documents, the Nawei Town Government has not provided any other relevant higher-level government approval documents to date.
Regarding the requisitioned land area, opinions vary. According to the approval documents of the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau, Wabei Village had a total of 31 mu of land requisitioned; however, the Nawei Town Government claimed that the requisitioned area was 34.87 mu and compensated accordingly; but according to the aforementioned three agreements, Wabei Village had a total of 65.87 mu of land requisitioned. According to the villagers, the actual land occupied in the village was more than 52 mu.
"We cannot sell the land blindly." In July 2006, without seeing any results from their petitions, the group leader Dong Mingwei represented the Wabei Village Group and began the path of making complaints.
Five lost lawsuits lament the complexity of the law
More than two years of litigation experiences have left Dong Mingwei deeply exhausted and increasingly confused, "Who should we sue next, and where should we go?"
On July 24, 2006, Wabei Village sued the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau and the Huazhou City Construction Bureau, requesting the court to revoke the "Construction Land Approval Certificate" issued by the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau to the third party (Guo Zhen, Guo Rong), as well as the "Construction Land Planning Permit" issued by the Huazhou City Construction Bureau, and to demolish the illegal buildings constructed by the third party on the land. On August 21, Wabei Village added the Nawei Town Government as a co-defendant, claiming that the town government illegally requisitioned land.
On December 30, 2006, the Huazhou Court ruled that since Wabei Village should sue the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau as the defendant, the court dismissed Wabei Village's claims against the Huazhou City Construction Bureau and the Nawei Town Government.
On January 18, 2007, the Huazhou Court made an administrative ruling on the case where Wabei Village sued the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau. The court believed that under the premise that the overall plan was legally valid, the issuance of the "Construction Land Approval Certificate" by the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau to the third party was without fault.
"Who approved the overall plan?" The villagers questioned the court's statement that the "overall plan was legally valid." Furthermore, the court's complete silence on the land requisition agreements was criticized by the villagers as "deliberately protecting."
At the end of January 2007, dissatisfied with the Huazhou Court's judgment, Wabei Village appealed to the Intermediate People's Court of Maoming City. On July 2, the Intermediate People's Court of Maoming City reviewed and believed that the issuance of the "Construction Land Approval Certificate" by the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau to the third party was a legal administrative action with proper procedures and sufficient evidence, and should be supported. The Intermediate People's Court of Maoming City also believed that Wabei Village's request for the court to rule on the demolition of the third party's illegal buildings was not within the scope of this case.
"Is it also considered a legal procedure without signing a land requisition agreement with Wabei Village?" The villagers were extremely dissatisfied with the judgment of the Intermediate People's Court of Maoming City. On February 8, 2008, Wabei Village provided the Huazhou Court with three land requisition agreements and the identification results from the Southwest University of Political Science and Law Judicial Identification Center.
"This time it will definitely be resolved." The villagers were full of anticipation.
On April 25, 2008, the Huazhou Court reviewed and believed that the fraudulent behavior of the Nawei Town Government and the Huazhou City Land and Resources Bureau during the land requisition process was not within the scope of administrative trial authority. On September 12, the Intermediate People's Court of Maoming City ruled in the second trial that the land requisition agreement was signed between the Nawei Town Government (as the land user) and the Nawei Management Area (as the land provider) and relevant representatives, which was a civil act implemented between equal subjects, not a specific administrative act, and therefore not within the scope of administrative litigation.
"The law is too complicated, the villagers can't handle it." More than two years of litigation experiences have left Dong Mingwei deeply exhausted and increasingly confused, "Who should we sue next, and where should we go?"
Whether to continue suing varies
Dong Rimao, who has been living in Guangzhou for a long time, said that he is not afraid of the government and must pursue the case to the end, "The government should be punished for not acting according to law"
On November 11, Dong Mingwei and five others walked out of the detention center in Huazhou City.
"I'm so stressed now." Dong Mingwei said that despite having been threatened and even placed under house arrest, he never had any intention of retreating. But now, he not only "doesn't know how to sue", but also feels worried about the future, "With so many people buying land, how can the government investigate?"
Dong Mingwei's concerns were confirmed by a decision made by the Huazhou Municipal Committee. At a standing committee meeting in February this year, the land department was required to handle the land of Wabei Village as a historical legacy issue and promptly issue land use certificates to the buyers. According to Yang Yati, the mayor of Nawei Town, apart from the more than 4,600 square meters of reserved land for Wabei Village, most of the requisitioned land in Wabei Village has been used for housing construction, and among the property owners are not only the business and finance departments but also other government agencies.
"What's the point of winning the lawsuit?" Some villagers are pessimistic about the prospects of the lawsuit. Villagers believe that even if they win the lawsuit, they will not be able to reclaim the requisitioned land, and the land compensation will not be higher (the compensation price offered by the town government is 30,000 yuan per mu, which is higher than the current statutory minimum compensation standard of 22,100 yuan per mu).
It is understood that after the six people were released, the town government has paid off the owed 710,000 yuan of land requisition fees. However, the money has been kept in the village group's account, and the villagers do not intend to distribute it.
"It's not about the amount of money, but about the issue of acting according to law." Dong Rimao, who has been living in Guangzhou for a long time, said that he is not afraid of the government and must pursue the case to the end, "The government should be punished for not acting according to law."
Like Dong Rimao, some villagers have decided to pursue the case to the end. However, these villagers are more concerned about the future, "If we lose our land, how will we live in the future?"
It is understood that due to its location near the Nawei street, the land in Wabei Village has been continuously requisitioned, and now the entire village of 321 people has only more than 10 mu of land, with less than 3 fen per person.
Editor's Postscript: On November 15, the Supreme People's Court issued the "Opinions on Protecting the Right to Sue of Parties in Administrative Litigation," requiring courts at all levels to further pay attention to and strengthen the acceptance of administrative cases, protect the litigation rights of parties according to law, and effectively solve the problem of "difficulty in filing complaints" in administrative litigation (commonly known as "people vs. officials").
The "Opinion" emphasizes strengthening supervision over the acceptance of administrative cases. Higher courts should supervise and guide the acceptance of administrative cases by lower courts through measures such as reviewing appeals and complaints, accepting reports, evaluating cases, special inspections, notifications, and rankings, to prevent the occurrence of events caused by parties having no way to file complaints, leading to appeals everywhere and intensifying social conflicts.
Undoubtedly, the issuance of the "Opinion" is a positive factor in curbing illegal interference in the acceptance of administrative cases, abolishing various illegal restrictions on the acceptance of administrative cases, and protecting citizens' litigation rights. For those citizens who encounter "difficulty in filing complaints," the issuance of the "Opinion" is like a refreshing rain after a long drought, for example, the villagers of Wabei Village in Nawei Town, Huazhou City, Guangdong Province, look forward to the early arrival of the rain of judicial fairness on their heads. (Source: Southern Rural Newspaper)