Judgment against high-profile gang leader upheld

Judgment against Sun Xiaoguo, a gang leader convicted of multiple crimes, upheld by Yunnan High People's Court on Tuesday.

Courts in Yunnan province sentenced 19 people, including several former high-level officials, for offenses related to jailed organized crime figure Sun Xiaoguo on Sunday.

Sun's mother, former policewoman Sun Heyu, was given a 20-year sentence, the longest prison term among the 19 defendants, for multiple crimes, including bribery and bending the law for selfish ends. Li Qiaozhong, Sun Xiaoguo's stepfather and ex-director of the Wuhua district urban management bureau in Kunming, Yunnan's provincial capital, was sentenced to 19 years in prison on similar duty-related criminal charges, authorities said in a statement.

Seventeen others, including some who worked for the provincial court, public security and prison systems, were given sentences ranging from two to 12 years in prison for illegal leniency in punishing Sun Xiaoguo and reducing his prison terms after receiving bribes from his parents, the statement said.