The 90-year-old mother of a defendant in a 117 million yuan (US$16 million) extortion case in China was so devoted to her son that she self-learned the law and appeared in court to defend him.
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The case was heard at Zhoushan Municipal Intermediate Court in Zhejiang province, eastern China, on July 30, the Huashang News reported.
The defendant, a 57-year-old man known as Lin, was arrested in April 2023 for blackmailing a local entrepreneur surnamed Huang out of 117 million yuan, according to prosecutors.
Huang was among the top 100 richest people in China in 2009, with a net worth of eight billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) at that time.
Lin and Huang cooperated in the gas production business, but Huang often failed to pay on time, leading to the suspension of production at Lin’s factory and severe losses.
From 2014 to 2017, Lin and his accountant forced Huang to pay a total of 117 million yuan by threatening to tip the tax authorities off about his irregular practices.
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At the beginning of 2023, Huang reported Lin to the police for extortion.
