China's former justice minister Fu Zhenghua has been sentenced to life in prison for accepting bribes, state media reported on Thursday. The 67-year-old was handed a suspended death sentence that will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years, with no possibility of parole.
Fu, who previously served as deputy head of the ministry of public security before becoming justice minister in 2018, admitted in July to accepting bribes exceeding 117 million yuan ($16.50 million). He had led several high-profile corruption investigations, including the probe into former security tsar Zhou Yongkang, the most powerful official convicted of bribery in modern China.
The sentencing comes amid a purge of security officials ahead of the Communist party congress, where President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a third term. Earlier this year, China's anti-graft watchdog determined that Fu was part of a 'political gang' led by Sun Lijun, a former vice-minister of public security.
Sun was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Thursday for taking bribes, stock market manipulation, and illegal arms possession. The watchdog described Sun's influence as 'poisonous' and likened him to a 'cancer' needing elimination. On Wednesday, three former police chiefs from Shanghai, Chongqing, and Shanxi province were also sentenced to prison for corruption, having been accused of being part of Sun's clique and disloyal to Xi.
