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China’s former security chief given life sentence for corruption China’s former security chief given life sentence for corruption
(35 minutes later)
China’s former domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang, was sentenced to life in jail on Thursday after being found guilty during a closed-door trial of bribery, leaking state secrets and abuse of power, state news agency Xinhua said. China’s former security chief and the arch-rival of president Xi Jinping has been sentenced to life in prison following a secret trial.
Zhou, who was formally charged in April, was tried in the northern city of Tianjin on May 22, and admitted his guilt and decided not to appeal against the verdict, Xinhua added, in a verdict also read out on state television. Zhou Yongkang – one of the Communist party’s most powerful and feared figures until his retirement in 2012 – was a key adversary of the Chinese leader and some experts had predicted he would be executed for his alleged crimes.
Zhou, 72, is the most senior Chinese official to be ensnared in a graft scandal since the party swept to power in 1949. The decision to try Zhou underscores President Xi Jinping’s pledge to fight corruption at the highest levels. Following a secret trial Zhou, 72, was convicted of bribery, abuse of power and leaking state secrets, Xinhua, China’s official news agency, announced on Thursday afternoon. “Zhou pleaded guilty and will not appeal,” Xinhua reported.
“I accept the prosecution’s accusations, and the basic facts are clear; I admit my guilt and am penitent,” Xinhua paraphrased Zhou as telling the court. Zhou was convicted of taking 129m yuan (£13.4m) worth of bribes as well as leaking “top secret files”, Xinhua added. His trial, which was held in the north-eastern city of Tianjin, around 80 miles from Beijing, began on 22 May.
One source with the direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters that Zhou, who used to be in charge of the police force, was being guarded by soldiers rather than police officers. Xi, who became Communist party chief in late 2012 just as Zhou stepped down, has been portrayed as China’s most powerful and authoritarian leader since Mao Zedong.
“He was cooperative during interrogations,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “His attitude was good.” Related: Politburo, army, casinos: China’s corruption crackdown spreads
Zhou’s alleged crimes took place over decades, including when he was deputy general manager of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), party boss in southwestern Sichuan province, minister of public security and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, according to the initial indictment. However, Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics from the University of Nottingham, said Beijing’s decision to try Zhou in secret suggested Xi was not as dominant as some observers suggest.
He has not been seen in public since October 2013. “He is still powerful, he is still confident – but not as much as we were all giving him credit for,” he said. Xi has been waging a high-profile war on corruption, vowing to eliminate thieving “tigers and flies” from the Communist party.
Zhou was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee - China’s apex of power - and held the post of security tsar until he retired in 2012. But much of the explanation for Zhou’s downfall was political, Tsang said. Xi would have seen his rival as a major obstacle preventing him from asserting “his supremacy within the party”.
Sources with ties to the Chinese leadership have previously told Reuters that Xi has been determined to bring down Zhou for allegedly plotting appointments to retain influence ahead of the 18th Party Congress in November 2012, when Xi took over the party. “We don’t know what Xi Jinping wants to do in China yet but we do know that he is ambitious. We do know that he wants to leave a mark.”
Zhou joined the Politburo Standing Committee in 2007 while also heading the central Political and Legal Affairs Committee, a sprawling body that oversees law and order policy. The security apparatus he ran expanded during his watch and consumed a budget that exceeded the official figure for military spending. He quickly earned the enmity of Chinese dissidents. Additional reporting by Luna Lin