Farmer Gets Death For Government Office Blast

Local media reports said Tian had borne a grudge after authorities twice tore down illegal structures he had built on his farmland.

China has sentenced to death a farmer who blew up a government office in anger at the demolition of his property, state media reported on Monday.

Rural discontent over proper land use is rife in China's vast hinterland, where more than 700 million farmers toil on small plots that are owned by the state.

Tian Kaiyou, 40, injured 18 people at a government office in Zhangjiajie, southern Hunan province, in July, after he drove a three-wheeled vehicle carrying lit cooking gas tanks into the building.

Tian was found guilty of "causing explosions, injuring people and jeopardising public security and property", the China Daily said, citing the Zhangjiajie Intermediate People's Court.

Local media reports said Tian had borne a grudge after authorities twice tore down illegal structures he had built on his farmland.

China's central government last month tweaked its rural land policy, formalising the transfer of land use rights in a bid to bolster farmers' incomes and build larger, more productive farms.

But analysts said the measures would do little to protect farmers from predatory local governments who seize their lands to sell to developers, providing minimal or no compensation.