Police in Shandong Province have detained a group that organized several protests to attempt to sway judicial judgments in exchange for cash, the Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.
Police in the central city of Weifang said that they have detained a group of "petitioners" who tried to influence verdicts by drawing public attention online and staging protests. Police have not released the exact number of protesters that were detained.
More than 20 people gathered in front of the city's Intermediate People's Court on June 15, blocking traffic and holding banners that read "people have the right to supervise judicial organs" and "the defendant is innocent." The defendant in the trial, surnamed Xu, was appealing a 10-year jail term for bribery.
The group, managed by Zhai Yanmin, was paid by relatives of defendants to stage protests across China, aiming to pressure the local government or judicial organs.
Zhai; Ren Jiancai, the protest ringleader; Liu Jianjun, Xu's lawyer who gave Zhai money provided by Xu's wife; and other paid protesters have been detained on suspicion of disturbing public order.
Police said that the 15 "petitioners" involved received 500 yuan ($81) each and 14 of them were found to have earlier protested in Qing'an, Heilongjiang Province in support of Xu Chunhe, who was shot dead by a policeman after assaulting the officer at a local railway station.
Zhai has organized nine such protests since 2014 and made up to 10,000 yuan ($1,611) each time, police said.
Zhai told police that he would raise funds online before each protest and promised to pay the "petitioners." Some lawyers would also send him money to arrange protests, some of which was given to the "petitioners" while Zhai kept the rest.
One of the "petitioners" surnamed Li confessed that some of the protesters demonstrated for a living and sometimes would get several assignments in one day. They would regularly protest outside foreign embassies, government buildings and courts, which was "no secret." "We didn't know why we came to Weifang, honestly, [we did this] for money," Li said.
Police also revealed that the group planned to protest against another "unjust case" in Guangzhou after finishing their assignment in Weifang.
