NANNING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- A man burned himself to death outside a government gate in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday because a grass-roots corruption case he reported had not been properly addressed, his wife said.

    Ruan Guangrui, a 49-year-old resident in Dongsun Community in Youjiang District, Baise City, burnt himself at about 4:20 p.m. atthe gate of the district government.

    Ruan wanted to use his suicide to draw attention to corruption cases in his village, said Deng Yulian, Ruan's wife.

    "Village officials misappropriated 380,000 yuan (55,625 U.S. dollars) of compensation money for land requisition," said Deng.

    Ruan and other villagers, totalling nearly 100, once reported the case to the prosecutor's office, but was dismissed. Local prosecutors said they only investigated officials higher than the village level. Villagers also tried the local police department, but to no avail.

    "Villagers were threatened with revenge, and later nobody dared to complain about the corruption," said Deng.

    Ruan was also blackmailed about ten days before his suicide, Deng said.

    The suicide case is under investigation.