Senior ex-prosecutor in Beijing gets suspended death sentence for embezzlement

Xiang Ming, a former senior prosecutor in Beijing, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for crimes of bribery and embezzlement, the capital's No 2 Intermediate People's Court announced on Monday.

Xiang, who served as the prosecutor-general of the First Branch of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate, was given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve for embezzlement and a 12-year imprisonment with fine of 2 million yuan ($278,492) for accepting bribes, according to the court ruling.

The court combined the penalties for both crimes and imposed the suspended death sentence to him. He was also deprived of his political rights for life, with confiscation of all his personal assets.

His illicit gains and related interests have been ordered to be turned over to the State treasury in line with the ruling.

In China, a suspended death penalty is typically commuted to life in prison if the inmate commits no new crimes during the two-year probation period. The sentence can be further reduced for the criminal's good behavior.

However, in Xiang's case, the court declared that if his sentence is later reduced to life imprisonment, he will not be eligible for additional sentence reductions or parole, with no more details regarding the severity of his offenses and the amount of bribes he accepted disclosed.

Public information shows that Xiang worked for the capital's prosecution system for decades. He was named the head of the procuratorate in Haidian district in 1994, and served as the deputy head of the municipal procuratorate in 1998. In March 2006, he became the prosecutor-general of the First Branch of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate.

In April 2022, he was placed under disciplinary and supervisory investigation. In December that year, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China.

At that time, the city's top anti-corruption commissions revealed that Xiang seriously violated disciplines and laws by embezzling "huge amount" of public funds and accepting "huge amount" of bribes.