China ex-security chief gets life sentence

China’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang, 72, has been sentenced to life in prison, Chinese media report.

He was found guilty of bribery, abuse of power and “intentionally disclosing national secrets”, China’s official Xinhua news agency reports.

Until his retirement in 2012, Mr Zhou was one of China’s most powerful men.

He was put under investigation after Xi Jinping took over as president a year later, as part of a major anti-corruption campaign.

Mr Zhou pleaded guilty at a closed-door trial in the northern city of Tianjin. According to Xinhua, he said he would not launch an appeal.

The news agency said Mr Zhou was tried on 22 May, but there was no public announcement until the conviction was announced on Thursday.

In a breakdown of the ruling, Xinhua reports that Mr Zhou received a life sentence for accepting bribes, seven years for abuse of power and four years for “deliberately releasing state secrets”.

All political rights have been stripped and his property confiscated, it added.

Mr Zhou was charged in April, nine months after a formal investigation was announced. He has since been expelled from the Communist Party.

He was once head of the Ministry of Public Security, as well as a member of China’s top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee. BBC