A mainland court has upheld an 11-year jail term for a senior police officer in Shenzhen who was convicted of taking bribes and dereliction of duty in connection with a nightclub fire that claimed 44 lives last year, according to mainland media.
Chen Xuming, former deputy director of the Public Security Bureau of Shenzhen's Longgang district, was found guilty of taking bribes of 60,000 yuan (HK$68,200) from the Dance King nightclub and turning a blind eye to lax safety measures, drug dealing and prostitution in the club, a spokesman with the Shenzhen Municipal Intermediate People's Court told Xinhua yesterday.
On January 20, Chen was sentenced by the Yantian District People's Court in Shenzhen, and he lodged an appeal. The Shenzhen Municipal Intermediate People's Court upheld the sentence 'not long ago', the spokesman told Xinhua.
A fire broke out just before 11pm on September 20 last year in the nightclub, where more than 300 people were watching a performance, and fireworks ignited flammable material in the ceiling. Forty-four people died and 64 were injured.
Six other people, mostly police officers connected to the deadly fire, had received jail terms ranging from one to 13 years for taking bribes, dereliction of duty and bending the law for selfish ends, according to sentences handed down by the Longgang district court on March 13.