China ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang sentenced to life in prison, will not appeal
Zhou Yongkang has been sentenced by Tianjin No.1 Intermediate People’s Court
China’s former security tsar Zhou Yongkang has been sentenced to life imprisonment by Tianjin No.1 Intermediate People’s Court.
He was also stripped of all political rights for life and all his personal assets were confiscated, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
State television showed pictures of a white-haired Zhou admitting his guilt in court and saying that he would not appeal.
Zhou, the most senior Chinese official to stand trial on graft charges in decades, was formally charged in April with taking bribes, abuse of power and intentionally leaking state secrets.
On the charge of taking bribes, Zhou was sentenced to life imprisonment, had his political rights withdrawn for life and his personal assets confiscated.
For abuse of power, he received seven years’ imprisonment, and for leaking state secrets he received four years’ imprisonment.
The Tianjin court started a closed-door trial on May 22. The trial was not open to the public because “some evidence of his crimes involved state secrets”, the report said.