This archive preserves the source record behind the Sun Dehua 孙德华 profile: the November 2020 detentions, the July 2021 Gaobeidian trial, the twelve-year sentence reported by Radio Free Asia, and his dated in-custody listing in 维权网’s August 2026 roster, with provenance and limitations noted.
Radio Free Asia — “Court in China’s Hebei Jails Agricultural Magnate Sun Dawu For 18 Years” (July 28, 2021)
(Radio Free Asia, by Lu Xi; read via the GlobalSecurity.org reprint: https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/china/2021/07/china-210728-rfa03.htm) The primary sentencing report for this case. States that the Gaobeidian Municipal People’s Court handed Sun Dawu eighteen years; that “Sun’s eldest son Sun Meng, was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment, while his brothers Sun Dehua and Sun Zhihua were handed jail terms of 12 and nine years respectively.” Records that Sun was tried behind closed doors alongside 20 relatives and colleagues, was fined 3.11 million yuan, and gave a closing statement invoking the Song-dynasty general Yue Fei. Notes the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network’s position that Sun is targeted for political reasons due to his association with detained democracy activist Xu Zhiyong. Source grade: established independent Chinese-language media; primary sentencing report; attributed.
NPR — “Chinese Billionaire Sun Dawu Is Sentenced To 18 Years For ‘Provoking Trouble’” (July 28, 2021)
(NPR, Emily Feng: https://www.nprillinois.org/2021-07-28/chinese-billionaire-sun-dawu-is-sentenced-to-18-years-for-provoking-trouble) Reports the eighteen-year sentence by the Gaobeidian District People’s Court on eight charges including gathering crowds to attack state agencies, illegal fundraising, and “provoking trouble.” States that nineteen of Sun’s relatives and employees received sentences ranging from fifteen months to twelve years — the sentence band containing Sun Dehua’s twelve-year term. Reports the detainees were held in secret house arrest for more than five months before formal charges, with detention-condition accounts relayed by the defense team. Source grade: established international media.
Reuters — “Chinese farm boss Sun Dawu sentenced to 18 years in jail” (July 29, 2021)
(Reuters, via The Business Standard) Corroborates the eighteen-year sentence, the charges including “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and illegally occupying farmland, the court’s WeChat sentencing announcement, and the 3.11-million-yuan fine. Source grade: established international wire service.
Chinese Human Rights Defenders — statement on the Sun Dawu case (July 2021)
(CHRD: https://www.nchrd.org/2021/07/the-chinese-government-must-end-its-reprisals-against-agricultural-entrepreneur-and-philanthropist-sun-dawu-and-his-associates/) The recognized human-rights NGO’s case statement: enumerates the eight charges against Sun Dawu, reports that some defendants were held incommunicado under residential surveillance at a designated location, and assesses the prosecution as politically motivated. Source grade: recognized human-rights monitoring NGO; the political-motivation assessment is attributed, not stated as fact.
Wikipedia — “孙大午” / “Sun Dawu”
(https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/孙大午) Tertiary background: confirms 孙德华 as one of Sun Dawu’s younger brothers and as the Dawu Group’s general manager during the 2003 case; records the 2003 three-year suspended sentence for Sun Dawu, the November 11, 2020 arrests of Sun Dawu’s family and 28 company personnel, and the July 28, 2021 eighteen-year verdict. Source grade: tertiary; used for family-role background only, not for the sentence fact.
维权网 — August 2026 monthly report, Issue 131 (August 31, 2026)
维权网《中国大陆在押政治犯、良心犯月度报告（2026年8月31日）第131期（共1638人）. Lists 孙德华 / “Sun Dehua” in the “判刑12年 / Sentenced to 12 years” group, immediately adjacent to Sun Meng, also a twelve-year defendant in the same trial per RFA. Supplies no biographical detail beyond the sentence and custody status; it is the source for his classification as in custody as of August 2026. Source grade: monitoring organization; single-source roster fact.
Source conflicts and limitations
No PRC official judgment text for Sun Dehua individually has been located; the charges and sentence for him are known through RFA’s trial reporting and the roster. The individual counts of conviction against Sun Dehua are not enumerated in any located source — the eight-charge list applies to Sun Dawu, not to Dehua, and is not attributed to him here. The RFA English report does not give Sun Dehua’s Chinese characters; they are supplied by the Chinese Wikipedia entry and the Issue-131 Chinese edition, which corroborate each other and the RFA sentence report. No primary court record, consular record, or post-2021 sentence-update for Sun Dehua has been located; the 2026 roster listing is the latest dated custody evidence.
Person profile: Sun Dehua 孙德华