Ex-Shaanxi Party chief gets suspended death sentence

Zhao Zhengyong, former Party chief of Shaanxi province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery by Tianjin No 1 Intermediate People's Court on Friday.

The court said in a ruling that Zhao will not be given a commutation or released on parole after his suspended death penalty is cut to a life sentence, or he will face life imprisonment.

Zhao was deprived of political rights for life and all his properties were also confiscated, said the ruling.

After the judgment was publicly announced, Zhao said he accepted the conviction and sentence and will not appeal it to a higher court, according to a statement by the Tianjin court.

From 2003 to 2018, Zhao was found making use of his posts, including the Party secretary of Shaanxi and the vice-governor of the provincial government, to help some individuals and departments get profits in construction, enterprise operations, job promotions and work transfers, and then accepted bribes of more than 717 million yuan ($103 million) in return, the ruling said.

"Zhao's behavior constitutes a crime of bribery and he should be sentenced to death, because the amount of bribes he accepted was extremely large and what he did brought extremely great losses to the country and the people," the court said in the ruling.

"But given that he pleaded guilty and all his illicit gains were seized or frozen, we gave him a suspended death sentence as a lenient punishment," it added. "Considering the facts and circumstances of his crime, he will neither be commuted nor released on parole after his sentence is reduced to life imprisonment."

Under the Chinese Criminal Law, defendants given suspended death will not be executed. If they perform well without new offenses during the two-year reprieve, their sentence will be cut to life imprisonment.

If those given suspended death have rendered meritorious services in probation, their punishment can be commuted to 25 years. Further commutation will also be given if they continue abiding by prison rules and performing well when serving the sentence.