Former vice-governor given suspended death sentence

A court in Hubei province on Monday sentenced Wang Dawei, former vice-governor of Liaoning province, to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes exceeding 555 million yuan ($78.39 million).

In addition, Wang, who also once led Liaoning's Public Security Bureau, was deprived of his political rights for life, and all of his personal assets were confiscated, according to the ruling announced by the Xiangyang Intermediate People's Court.

In China, if a prisoner who receives a suspended death sentence commits no new offenses during the reprieve, his or her sentence will be reduced to life imprisonment.

If the inmate behaves well in prison, their sentences may have further commutation, or they may become eligible for parole.

In Wang's case, there will be no possibility of commutation or parole, even if he behaves well, the court said. It means he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Additionally, the court has ordered that Wang's illegal possessions and wealth be recovered and turned over to the state treasury.

The court said that an investigation has found that Wang took advantage of his positions, including as deputy head of the Public Security Bureau in Heilongjiang province, head of Liaoning's PSB and vice-governor of Liaoning, to seek profits illegally.

In return, he accepted money, cars and property worth over 555 million yuan between 2008 and 2022.

Wang's activities amounted to the crime of bribery, "and he should be sentenced to death, as the amount of his bribes was extremely large and the circumstance of his offense was extremely serious, bringing great losses to the interests of the country and the people," the court said.

"Considering that he had confessed to the crime, and voluntarily shared many bribery facts unknown to investigators and returned his illicit gains, we leniently punished him with a suspended death, but without further commutation or parole after being reduced to life imprisonment," it added.

Wang, a 60-year-old native of Heilongjiang, joined the Communist Party of China in 1984 and started his career in 1990.

He was placed under investigation on suspicion of severely violating Party disciplines and national laws in March 2022, and indicted on bribery charges in February 2023.

His case was publicly heard by the court in October last year.