A Chinese farmer has been sentenced to life in prison for avoiding motorway tolls adding up to more than 3.5 million yuan (530,000 US dollars).

State media this week reported that a court in the central province of Henan sentenced Shi Jianfeng on December 21. He was also fined two million yuan (302,000 US dollars).

The news caused an uproar among some Chinese, who argued in online postings and commentaries that shorter sentences have been given out for the more serious crimes of rape or murder.

A report in the People's Daily newspaper said Shi avoided paying tolls more than 2,300 times by using fake military licence plates between May 2008 and January 2009 as he ran a business transporting gravel.

The report cited prosecutors in the city of Pingdingshan.

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