Former Shanghai official given life sentence for bribery, abuse of power

Chen Xu, former Party chief and procurator general of Shanghai Municipal People's Procuratorate, was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Intermediate People's Court of Nanning City in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Thursday.

He was charged with accepting money and property worth more than 74.23 million yuan ($10.68 million) personally or through family members from 2000 to 2015, according to prosecutors.

Chen used his positions, including former deputy Party secretary of Judicial and Law Enforcement Committee of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, and deputy secretary general of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, to help organizations and individuals in case handling, project contracting and the recruiting of civil servants from 2003 to 2014.

The court said Chen's acts constituted the crime of bribery and the abuse of judicial power, which were against national and people's interests, with negative impact on society.

However, given that he confessed, expressed remorse in court, and has given up ill-gotten gains, along with other mitigating factors, Chen was given a lighter punishment.