Report on 'mentally ill' farmers out soon

The results of an investigation into claims that a group of 18 protesting farmers from the city of Xintai, Shandong province, were sent to a mental hospital will likely be made known in two or three days' time, officials said yesterday.

An official with the publicity department of the city of Tai'an, which governs Xintai, told China Daily that the investigation was nearing completion.

Qin Aimin, a press official with the State Bureau of Letters and Calls, which deals with complaints from the public, said: "We are pushing the local government to submit an investigation report as soon as possible."