Former senior adviser gets suspended death

Han Yong, a former senior national political adviser, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Monday for accepting bribes, a court in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region announced.

Han was also deprived of his political rights for life and had all of his personal assets confiscated, according to the ruling by the Nanning Intermediate People's Court. The court ordered that his illicit gains and any interest earned from them be turned over to the national treasury.

An investigation found that Han used his positions and influence in the provinces of Jilin and Shaanxi, as well as the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, to seek benefits for other departments and individuals between 1993 and 2023. The court said he accepted bribes totaling more than 261 million yuan ($36.1 million) in exchange for helping others with business operations, project contracts and personnel arrangements.

The court said Han's conduct constituted the crime of bribery, with the amount involved being "extremely huge" and the damage caused to the interests of the country and people "extremely large". It said that his crimes warranted a death sentence.

However, the court said it decided to impose a suspended death sentence because Han confessed to the crime, showed remorse, failed to obtain some of the bribes, voluntarily disclosed some bribes that were previously unknown to investigators and voluntarily returned his illegal gains.

In China, a suspended death sentence is typically commuted to life in prison if the inmate commits no further offenses during the two-year reprieve. That sentence can be further reduced based on good behavior.

Han, 68, is a native of Jilin province. Public records show he began his career in 1974 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1976. After earning a law degree, he went on to hold positions as a prosecutor and in disciplinary commissions in Jilin and Xinjiang.

In early 2016, he became chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. From March 2022 to March 2023, he served as deputy head of the Committee on Population, Resources and Environment of the CPPCC National Committee, China's top political advisory body.

He was placed under investigation in October 2023 and expelled from the Party in April last year. He was prosecuted for suspected bribery in August, and his case was publicly heard in the Nanning court in December.