Shanghai government sued over private museum demolition

SHANGHAI - A Shanghai district government on Thursday denied charges of theft and illegal demolition of a private museum, whose owner demanded hefty compensation in a trial that opened on Wednesday.

The trial continued on Thursday at Changning District People's Court, in which Liu Guangjia demanded the city's Minhang district government to pay a record 289 million yuan (47.3 mln U.S. dollars) in compensation.

The compensation is the highest for a lawsuit a Chinese citizen has brought against a local government.

Liu said the government, with a local property company, had forcefully and unlawfully demolished his house and a museum-style garden in Anle village on April 27, 2012.

He also accused officials of taking away his collection, which consisted of bonsai trees and exotic rocks. The private museum was open to the public free of charge.

At the trial, Liu played a video recording that he alleged as showing the demolition crew discussing the division of the collection.

The government said workers in the video were only following a standard procedure of moving objects from the site.

The lawyer representing the government said the theft could never have occurred as the demolition process was overseen by the district court and witnessed by workers from several participating companies and a crowd of local residents.

The demolition had followed legal procedures, including issuing eviction notices, which the lawyer said had been repeatedly ignored by Liu.