China sets death penalty in corruption cases

Corruption cases involving more than £300,000 – or three million yuan – could incur the death penalty in future, Chinese authorities have ruled.

Under President Xi Jinping the country has waged a much-publicised anti-corruption campaign.


Xinhua News Agency reports that, the Supreme People’s Court and China’s national prosecuting body said that bribes or embezzlement totalling three million yuan or more will be considered ‘extraordinarily huge value’ and could incur the death penalty, or a life sentence without parole.

Such offenders will be eligible for the death penalty if their actions had ‘extremely severe circumstances and caused extremely vile social impact and extremely significant losses to the state’s and the people’s interests’,
Former railways minister Liu Zhijun was given a suspended death penalty in 2013 for taking bribes worth 60 million yuan, which was commuted to life imprisonment last year.

Any acceptance of gifts by government employees that might affect the performance of their public duties will be regarded as bribery even if there was no specific request by the briber at the time, it said.

Supreme People’s Court judge Pei Xianding said judicial authorities would hand down death sentences ‘in a resolute manner’, Xinhua reported