This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/12/world/asia/zhou-yongkang-former-security-chief-in-china-gets-life-sentence-for-corruption.html
The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 5 | Version 6 |
|---|---|
| Zhou Yongkang, Ex-Security Chief in China, Gets Life Sentence for Graft | Zhou Yongkang, Ex-Security Chief in China, Gets Life Sentence for Graft |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| HONG KONG — Zhou Yongkang, China’s former domestic security chief, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for accepting bribes, abuse of power and revealing state secrets, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported. | HONG KONG — Zhou Yongkang, China’s former domestic security chief, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for accepting bribes, abuse of power and revealing state secrets, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported. |
| Mr. Zhou, 72, was tried in secret in the northeastern city of Tianjin. A member of the elite Politburo Standing Committee from 2007 until 2012, he is the most senior leader, sitting or retired, to be sentenced to prison for corruption in more than 65 years of Communist Party rule. | Mr. Zhou, 72, was tried in secret in the northeastern city of Tianjin. A member of the elite Politburo Standing Committee from 2007 until 2012, he is the most senior leader, sitting or retired, to be sentenced to prison for corruption in more than 65 years of Communist Party rule. |
| The life sentence marks the final blow for Mr. Zhou, once considered by many to command more power — through his control of the police and criminal justice system — than anyone except the party’s top leader. The vise around his circle of political allies began to tighten only weeks after Xi Jinping, now China’s president, took the party’s top post in November 2012. | The life sentence marks the final blow for Mr. Zhou, once considered by many to command more power — through his control of the police and criminal justice system — than anyone except the party’s top leader. The vise around his circle of political allies began to tighten only weeks after Xi Jinping, now China’s president, took the party’s top post in November 2012. |
| Mr. Zhou was found guilty of accepting about $118,000 in bribes, including money and property from Jiang Jiemin, the jailed former head of China National Petroleum Corporation, a state-owned oil and natural gas company once led by Mr. Zhou. He was also found guilty of leaking six secret documents to a man named Cao Yongzheng. Earlier news reports identified Mr. Cao as a Beijing fortuneteller. | Mr. Zhou was found guilty of accepting about $118,000 in bribes, including money and property from Jiang Jiemin, the jailed former head of China National Petroleum Corporation, a state-owned oil and natural gas company once led by Mr. Zhou. He was also found guilty of leaking six secret documents to a man named Cao Yongzheng. Earlier news reports identified Mr. Cao as a Beijing fortuneteller. |
| Mr. Zhou’s wife, Jia Xiaoye, as well as Zhou Bin, his son from an earlier marriage, had also taken bribes totaling more than $20 million, Xinhua said. | Mr. Zhou’s wife, Jia Xiaoye, as well as Zhou Bin, his son from an earlier marriage, had also taken bribes totaling more than $20 million, Xinhua said. |
| The news agency’s report did not say whether Ms. Jia, a former presenter on state television, or Zhou Bin, whose wife is a United States citizen, are also being prosecuted or whether Mr. Zhou’s confession of guilt was made in exchange for leniency for them. | |
| The sentencing of Mr. Zhou marks a high point for Mr. Xi’s campaign against corruption in the Communist Party. Just days after assuming control of the party with its more than 80 million members, Mr. Xi said that graft threatened the party’s hold on power. In the past two years, hundreds of thousands of elite cadres and minor officials — or “tigers” and “flies” in party terminology — have found themselves investigated by the party’s internal discipline organization. | |
| Mr. Zhou was shown on Chinese television bowing his head — his once jet-black hair turned white in confinement — and confessing his crimes. | Mr. Zhou was shown on Chinese television bowing his head — his once jet-black hair turned white in confinement — and confessing his crimes. |
| “I obey the verdict the court handed to me. I will not appeal,” Mr. Zhou said. “I acknowledge the fact that I have broken the law and committed crimes, and have caused losses to the party’s work. I, once again, plead guilty, and I repent.” | “I obey the verdict the court handed to me. I will not appeal,” Mr. Zhou said. “I acknowledge the fact that I have broken the law and committed crimes, and have caused losses to the party’s work. I, once again, plead guilty, and I repent.” |
| Prosecutors called the circumstances of his wrongdoing “particularly grave” when they announced charges against him in April. In its verdict, the Tianjin First Intermediate People’s Court said that the bribes were “extremely large” but had been recovered and that the sentence against Mr. Zhou was in accordance with the “degree of harm to society.” | Prosecutors called the circumstances of his wrongdoing “particularly grave” when they announced charges against him in April. In its verdict, the Tianjin First Intermediate People’s Court said that the bribes were “extremely large” but had been recovered and that the sentence against Mr. Zhou was in accordance with the “degree of harm to society.” |
| The dollar amounts mentioned in the verdict were tiny compared to the more than $161 million in documented assets The New York Times found family members to have held in an investigation published last year. | |
| The Times’s calculation was conservative, in many cases only accounting for the share capital of companies controlled by the family, rather than gross or net assets, which are often unavailable to the public but are usually many times larger than the share capital. | |
| It has never been clear to what extent the prosecution of Mr. Zhou and his allies is part of Mr. Xi’s broader anticorruption campaign as opposed to a takedown of a powerful potential rival. | |
| Mr. Zhou’s lawyer, Gu Yongzhong, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, declined to discuss the case when reached by telephone. “I hope you could base your story on the Xinhua statement, which is clear enough. I’ve got nothing to say,” he said. | Mr. Zhou’s lawyer, Gu Yongzhong, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, declined to discuss the case when reached by telephone. “I hope you could base your story on the Xinhua statement, which is clear enough. I’ve got nothing to say,” he said. |
| There had been no indication before the verdict that Mr. Zhou’s trial would take place so soon after the office of the country’s top prosecutor announced that he would be tried. Xinhua, citing the court, said that Mr. Zhou was tried behind closed doors because the case involved charges of leaking state secrets. The head of China’s Supreme Court had been cited in the state news media in March as indicating that the trials of top officials, including Mr. Zhou’s, would be open. | There had been no indication before the verdict that Mr. Zhou’s trial would take place so soon after the office of the country’s top prosecutor announced that he would be tried. Xinhua, citing the court, said that Mr. Zhou was tried behind closed doors because the case involved charges of leaking state secrets. The head of China’s Supreme Court had been cited in the state news media in March as indicating that the trials of top officials, including Mr. Zhou’s, would be open. |
| The fact that the proceedings were held in secret is an indication that Mr. Zhou may have not been cooperative in reaching what was going to be essentially a political verdict, said Steve Tsang, head of contemporary Chinese studies at the University of Nottingham, in response to emailed questions. Because of Mr. Zhou’s high rank, Mr. Tsang said, the outcome would have been agreed upon in advance by top current and former leaders. | The fact that the proceedings were held in secret is an indication that Mr. Zhou may have not been cooperative in reaching what was going to be essentially a political verdict, said Steve Tsang, head of contemporary Chinese studies at the University of Nottingham, in response to emailed questions. Because of Mr. Zhou’s high rank, Mr. Tsang said, the outcome would have been agreed upon in advance by top current and former leaders. |
| “The verdict and the specifics of the crimes to charge him of are matters too important to be decided by the police, the procurators or the judges,” Mr. Tsang said. “They are highly sensitive and political matters that only the top leadership can decide. They are meant to ‘justify’ the sentence given.” | “The verdict and the specifics of the crimes to charge him of are matters too important to be decided by the police, the procurators or the judges,” Mr. Tsang said. “They are highly sensitive and political matters that only the top leadership can decide. They are meant to ‘justify’ the sentence given.” |
| One of the people named in Thursday’s judgment as benefiting from Mr. Zhou’s corruption, Li Chuncheng, the former deputy Communist Party secretary in Sichuan Province, was removed from his post in December 2012, only weeks after Mr. Xi took over the party’s top post. In the months that followed, other members of Mr. Zhou’s inner circle, including Mr. Jiang, the former head of the China National Petroleum Corporation, were removed from their posts and prosecuted for corruption. | One of the people named in Thursday’s judgment as benefiting from Mr. Zhou’s corruption, Li Chuncheng, the former deputy Communist Party secretary in Sichuan Province, was removed from his post in December 2012, only weeks after Mr. Xi took over the party’s top post. In the months that followed, other members of Mr. Zhou’s inner circle, including Mr. Jiang, the former head of the China National Petroleum Corporation, were removed from their posts and prosecuted for corruption. |
| It is not clear what prompted the authorities to turn so quickly against Mr. Zhou, but in March the Supreme Court provided tantalizing evidence that suggested that Mr. Zhou’s transgressions went far beyond bribery and giving documents to fortunetellers. | It is not clear what prompted the authorities to turn so quickly against Mr. Zhou, but in March the Supreme Court provided tantalizing evidence that suggested that Mr. Zhou’s transgressions went far beyond bribery and giving documents to fortunetellers. |
| The court said in a report on judicial work that Mr. Zhou and Bo Xilai — a former Politburo member who was tried and convicted in 2013 — had “trampled on rule of law, sabotaged party unity and engaged in nonorganization political activities.” The wording suggested that Mr. Zhou and Mr. Bo had, together or separately, engaged in political conspiracy. | The court said in a report on judicial work that Mr. Zhou and Bo Xilai — a former Politburo member who was tried and convicted in 2013 — had “trampled on rule of law, sabotaged party unity and engaged in nonorganization political activities.” The wording suggested that Mr. Zhou and Mr. Bo had, together or separately, engaged in political conspiracy. |