HONG KONG—A Chinese court sentenced an outspoken farming magnate to 18 years in jail for allegedly causing public disorder and a multitude of other offenses, dishing out heavy penalties in a case seen as a bellwether of the growing political risks that confront private businesses in China.
Sun Dawu, 67 years old, was convicted Wednesday of crimes that included agitating crowds against state organs, illegal fundraising and unlawful occupation of farmland, a municipal court in the northern city of Gaobeidian said in a notice published on its website. He was also fined about 3.1 million yuan, the equivalent of about $405,500.
Mr. Sun’s company, Dawu Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Group, had been publicly feuding with a state-owned farm in China’s northern city of Baoding over a long-running land dispute when police detained him, members of his family and other senior Dawu executives in November.
Prosecutors formally brought charges in May…