BEIJING: A court in Jilin province on Monday upheld the original sentence of a man who built an unauthorized bridge and claimed that it was to give residents easier access to a nearby city as he was found to have damaged another path to cross the river and forced people to pay up.
In 2014, Huang Deyi and his family started to build a bridge on the Tao’er River in Zhenlin village, Taonan city. Due to the construction was unauthorized, the local water resources department had asked Huang to dismantle the bridge several times. Following a dispute with the department in 2018, Huang and several family members were detained for causing trouble the following February, according to Taonan Water Conservancy Bureau.
In December 2019, Huang was sentenced to two years in prison for causing trouble with a two-year reprieve by the Taonan People’s Court while 17 of his family members received prison terms and probation. In its verdict, the court stated that the rulings were in response to the family forcing people to pay to use the bridge.
Huang later appealed to the Baicheng Intermediate People’s Court. The court announced on Monday that it has decided to uphold the sentences of Huang and He Shuchun, a key accomplice who received the sentence of one year in prison with a reprieve. But it has exempted five people from criminal punishment and declared the innocence of 11 others because there has been an error in the application of the law. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
