Ex-court official sentenced to life

A Chinese court sentenced Xi Xiaoming, former vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, to life in prison on bribery charges on Thursday.

The Secondary Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin hand-ed down the sentence and also stripped Xi of his political rights for life. All of his personal property and wealth will be confiscated, according to the court.

The court found that from 1996 to 2015, Xi took advantage of various official positions in the SPC to offer favors to entities and individuals in the handling of cases and company listings, accepting bribes worth about 114.6 million yuan ($16.7 million) either personally or through his family.