TOP CHINESE GENERAL SENTENCED FOR CORRUPTION

A former top Chinese general was sentenced Monday to a de facto life sentence in connection with bribery, embezzlement and other charges, state media said, the highest-ranking military official known to be convicted under President Xi Jinping’s anticorruption drive. Gu Junshan—a former lieutenant general and deputy head of logistics in the People’s Liberation Army—was handed a death sentence suspended for two years following a military court hearing, the official Xinhua News Agency said. In China, such a sentence is normally commuted to a life term after two years of good behavior.

Military prosecutors charged Mr. Gu in early 2014 with embezzlement, receiving bribes, misuse of public funds and abuse of power, two years after his removal from the military. Mr. Gu was later hit with an additional charge of offering bribes as his case proceeded, Xinhua said without specifying when. His case had marked the first corruption probe against a military figure since Mr. Xi launched an aggressive antigraft campaign shortly after taking power more than two years ago. More than 30 current and former generals have since been brought down, including two former vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission, the institution that controls China’s military. At the hearing, the military court stripped Mr. Gu of his political rights for life, revoked his military rank, and ordered the confiscation of his personal assets, Xinhua said.  In handing down his sentence, the court considered the fact that Mr. Gu had “exposed wrongdoing by other people,” while investigators were able to recover all the stolen money and assets, the military’s official newspaper, PLA Daily, said on its verified microblog account.  Mr. Gu, 58 years old, couldn’t be reached for comment. It wasn’t clear whether lawyers represented him. His trial was held behind closed doors because military secrets were involved, PLA Daily said.

China’s military has been a key target in President Xi’s push to stamp out corruption said to be rife across the Communist Party and major state organs. Analysts say he has targeted the PLA both to solidify his grip on a politically important institution and to make sure it is focused on becoming a modern force capable of defending China’s increasingly global interests.