(January 23, 2002 ) An 82-year-old Shaanxi farmer who campaigns on behalf of people who lost land to the Sanmenxia dam has been released from detention after being asked to promise not to demand more compensation related to the 2003 Wei River floods.

An 82-year-old Shaanxi farmer who campaigns on behalf of people who lost land to the Sanmenxia dam on the Yellow River has been released from detention, Minnie Chan reports in the South China Morning Post today. Liu Huairong, 82, was released on Lunar New Year’s Eve, after being forced to make a written promise that he “would not mind other people’s business.” He had been detained on Oct. 23 along with three other village representatives during protests over compensation payments relating to disastrous floods on the Wei River in 2003. The men were leading thousands of villagers demanding the payment of relief money allocated by Beijing to victims of the floods. They were also pressing for the return of farmland that belonged to their families before the building of the Sanmenxia dam [completed in 1960]. A government official said Mr. Liu was released in response to Beijing’s decision to investigate the embezzlement of more than 50 million yuan from flood-relief funds in Shaanxi, the SCMP reports.

South China Morning Post, January 23, 2002