China court sentences former general to death

Xinhua said he was also stripped of his rank of lieutenant general, had all his personal assets confiscated and has been deprived of his political rights for life, citing a court statement.

A “joint operation system” will be formed by Chinese armed forces including army, navy, air force, artillery, armed police, intelligence, reconnaissance and electronic warfare, said He Qimao, head of the joint drill bureau of the PLA General Staff’s training department.

Officials seized “a gold boat, a gold wash basin and a gold statue of Mao Zedong” along with crates of expensive liquor from his mansion in Puyang in the central province of Henan, the magazine Caixin reported at the time.

The reprieve, which Chinese web portal Sina reported was granted for Gu’s “meritorious acts”-what acts, the defense ministry spokesperson didn’t tell-will very likely be granted after two years’ good behavior, given the Communist Party’s history of being lenient to purged top cadres”.

Gu accumulated wealth through the sale of military land, and had collected 6 percent of $321.8 million in land sales in Shanghai.

The investigation into his misdeeds kicked off a campaign against military corruption.

According to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, Gu’s detention marked the beginning of China’s campaign against graft in the military.

A military court on Monday gave a suspended death sentence to a general convicted of bribery and other crimes, the highest-ranking military officer to be tried since China’s president began cracking down on corruption in the country’s vast army. Since he took over, Xi has been keen that the military should weeded out of corrupt officials while ordering massive realtime drills to win wars.

The 73-year old, the former vice-chair of China’s Central Military Commission, is accused of bribery. The other two are Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, both former vice chairs of the CMC.