Classification: Business executive and relative of an outspoken entrepreneur; sentenced to twelve years in prison in the July 2021 Dawu Group trial. Listed as in custody in 维权网’s August 2026 prisoner roster.
Background
Sun Dehua (孙德华) is the younger brother of Sun Dawu (孙大午), the well-known Hebei agricultural entrepreneur, and served as general manager of the Dawu Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Group (大午农牧集团), one of northern China’s largest private agricultural conglomerates. He had already been caught up in the earlier round of the family’s legal troubles: during Sun Dawu’s 2003 prosecution over the group’s fundraising from farmers, Sun Dehua was among those detained alongside the group’s vice chairman and finance chief.
The November 2020 detentions and July 2021 trial
On November 11, 2020, Sun Dehua was detained along with Sun Dawu, his family members, and more than twenty Dawu Group employees, following a land dispute between the company and a state-run farm in Hebei that had turned violent the previous summer. According to NPR’s reporting, the detainees were held for more than five months in a form of secret house arrest before being formally charged. In April 2021, prosecutors in the city of Gaobeidian announced the charges had been transferred for trial.
Twelve-year sentence
On July 28, 2021, the Gaobeidian Municipal People’s Court (高碑店市人民法院) sentenced Sun Dehua to twelve years’ imprisonment. Radio Free Asia reported that the verdicts in the closed-door trial fell together: Sun Dawu received eighteen years, Sun Dawu’s eldest son Sun Meng twelve years, Sun Dehua twelve years, and another brother, Sun Zhihua, nine years. Nineteen relatives and employees received sentences ranging from fifteen months to twelve years, according to NPR. The trial, held behind closed doors amid heavy security, drew statements from the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network that Sun Dawu was being targeted for political reasons — an assessment presented as the organization’s position, not as an established judicial finding.
Status and evidentiary limits
Sun Dehua is classified as a current prisoner. 维权网’s August 31, 2026 monthly report (Issue 131) lists 孙德华 among the prisoners of conscience in custody, in the “sentenced to 12 years” group — consistent with the twelve-year term reported by Radio Free Asia, and with the placement of his nephew Sun Meng, also a twelve-year defendant, immediately adjacent in the roster. The court did not publish a detailed public judgment for Sun Dehua individually; the individual charges against him, his current prison facility, his exact release date, and his condition are not documented beyond the sources cited. No claim is made about sentence reduction or early release. This profile covers Sun Dehua only and does not merge him with his brother Sun Dawu, his nephew Sun Meng, his brother Sun Zhihua, or Sun Dawu’s wife Liu Huiru.
Media Profile & Archive: Sun Dehua 孙德华 — Media Profile & Archive