"Life Imprisonment" at Qincheng Prison: Reflections of Those Who Came After

Qincheng Prison (video screenshot)

[People News] Our previous column, "Night Talk from Zhongnanhai," discussed the sentencing guidelines for criminals given life imprisonment sentences in China. These guidelines state that after a life sentence is commuted one or more times, the actual time served cannot be less than thirteen years. In theory, this means that Zhou Yongkang, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2015, could be released as early as June 2028, even if medical parole or probation is not granted.

Since Jiang Zemin sent Chen Xitong to Qincheng Prison, many other high-ranking officials have been successively imprisoned there by Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping, including Chen Liangyu, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Ling Jihua, Sun Zhengcai, and Su Rong. Among them, only Chen Xitong and Chen Liangyu received fixed-term sentences, while the others were given life sentences.

Chen Xitong was sentenced to 16 years in prison in July 1996, but was released on medical parole in May 2006, having spent less than eight years in prison. He passed away seven years after his medical parole, indicating that he was not terminally ill at the time of his release.

To add some context, Chen Xitong received a "fixed-term imprisonment of 16 years" due to multiple charges. His main offense, "corruption," was based on his failure to turn over "valuable gifts" he received in foreign interactions, valued at approximately 556,000 yuan, to the state.

Chen Liangyu was sentenced on April 11, 2008, to 18 years for bribery, abuse of power, and neglect of duty. State media at the time highlighted the phrase in the first-instance judgment, "the sentence term shall end on July 25, 2025." However, after entering Qincheng Prison and receiving sentence reductions, he was released after only 14 years.

Among those sentenced to life imprisonment, former Politburo member and Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai has been serving his sentence since September 2013 and has now spent 11 years in Qincheng Prison. Former Politburo member and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Guo Boxiong and former Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Ling Jihua were both sentenced in July 2016 and have served 8 years. Su Rong, former Vice Chairman of the CPPCC, was sentenced in July 2017 and has served 7 years, while former Politburo member and Chongqing party secretary Sun Zhengcai was sentenced in June 2018 and has served 6 years.

A former Chinese Ministry of Justice official revealed that, before retiring, he was allowed to tour Qincheng Prison and visited the section where high-ranking officials are held. His biggest impression was that the food, accommodations, and healthcare were better than expected, allowing officials to enjoy their later years in relative comfort, which supports longevity. As a result, most officials—whether sentenced to fixed terms or life imprisonment—can live long enough to be released if not given parole or medical release. For those sentenced to suspended death sentences (death with reprieve), unless life imprisonment is added, they theoretically serve only 7-8 years more than those with life sentences.

Among future senior officials likely headed for Qincheng, only Wei Fenghe, born in 1954, and Li Shangfu, born in 1958, former state councilors and defense ministers, are younger than Zhou Yongkang, Guo Boxiong, Su Rong, and Bo Xilai. If both are sentenced to life imprisonment this year or early next year, under the 13-year guideline, Wei Fenghe could be released by age 84 and Li Shangfu by age 80.

In July, I wrote in "Night Talk from Zhongnanhai" that "the likelihood of both former defense ministers receiving life imprisonment is the greatest." While I stated that "even if Li Shangfu or Wei Fenghe were found to have accepted bribes amounting to billions, at most, they would receive a suspended death sentence with life imprisonment attached, and the possibility of execution is close to zero," recent reports indicate that the severity of Wei’s and Li’s offenses may exceed Guo Boxiong’s, potentially leading to suspended death sentences with life imprisonment rather than just life imprisonment.

In Guo Boxiong's disciplinary report, it was stated that he “sought job promotions and other benefits for others, directly or through family members, receiving bribes, seriously violating party discipline, with severe circumstances and adverse impact.”

The report on Wei Fenghe, however, states that he "collapsed in his beliefs, betrayed party loyalty, and acted in ways that severely damaged the political ecosystem within the military, causing great harm to the party’s cause, national defense, and the image of senior leaders."

Similarly, the report on Li Shangfu notes that he "betrayed the party’s trust, severely tarnished the political environment and industry norms within military equipment sectors, and inflicted great harm on the party’s work, national defense, and the image of senior officials."

Doesn’t it seem that Wei Fenghe’s and Li Shangfu’s offenses are far more serious than Guo Boxiong’s?

Since Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign began, any disciplinary notices from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) containing phrases such as "extremely serious," "especially significant," or "extraordinarily severe" often indicate that the individual will face a suspended death sentence with life imprisonment—a leniency rarely granted. The cases of Fu Zhenghua and others are clear examples of this.

Therefore, it is possible that the two former defense ministers, especially Wei Fenghe, may become the first senior state leaders to serve life imprisonment entirely at Qincheng Prison.

Currently, among the 18 cadres at the provincial and ministerial level who have received suspended death sentences with life imprisonment, only four are of provincial rank: former Secretary of Yunnan Provincial Party Committee Bai Enpei, former Secretary of Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee Zhao Zhengyong, former Minister of Justice Fu Zhenghua, and former Secretary of Guizhou Provincial Party Committee Sun Zhigang. This number is expected to grow, and it’s interesting to consider which current high-ranking officials under CCDI investigation may also receive life imprisonment sentences as a warning from Xi Jinping to enforce party discipline.

As of the time of writing, several former officials awaiting further disciplinary actions or judicial proceedings include former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian, former Director of the General Administration of Sport of China Gou Zhongwen, former Chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Han Yong, former Executive Vice Chairman of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League Li Yuefeng, former Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the CPPCC Li Weiwei, former Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region Wu Yingjie, and former Secretary and Chairman of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region CPPCC Qi Tongsheng.

We know that the CCP’s procedure for dealing with corrupt officials, both minor and major, is "discipline before law." When the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announces the expulsion of these individuals from the Party and their handover to the judiciary, it does not reveal the actual amount of financial crime that has been verified. In other words, the amount involved in their economic crimes is only made public at the same time as their first-instance verdict.

So, can we deduce the likely judicial outcome from the details in the CCDI's announcements about expelling corrupt Party members and transferring them to the judiciary?

Let’s take as an example the 18 high-ranking cadres introduced in the previous Night Talk from Zhongnanhai article who received suspended death sentences with life imprisonment.

Fu Zhenghua was characterized as having "severely violated the Party's political discipline and political rules, organizational discipline, clean governance discipline, and life discipline, constituting serious professional misconduct and suspected bribery and perverting the law. Despite the 18th National Congress, he continued his behavior without restraint, and his actions were extraordinarily vile and severe, warranting serious punishment."

Sun Lijun was labeled as "severely violating the Party’s political, organizational, and clean governance discipline, constituting serious professional misconduct and suspected criminal offenses. He continued without restraint even after the 18th National Congress, worsening his behavior, with extraordinarily severe, vile circumstances, and extremely bad influence, warranting serious punishment."

Wang Like and Liu Yanping were similarly described as having "continued without restraint even after the 18th National Congress, with extraordinarily vile nature and severe circumstances, warranting serious punishment."

Zhao Zhengyong was characterized as "an example of intertwined political and economic corruption, unrestrained since the 18th National Congress, with concentrated reports of misconduct, strong public discontent, and behavior that severely polluted and damaged Shaanxi’s political ecosystem and development environment, with extraordinarily severe nature and extremely bad influence, warranting serious punishment."

Sun Deshun was labeled as a "typical case of extraordinarily severe and vile corruption in the financial sector, involving particularly huge amounts, warranting serious punishment."

Besides those mentioned above, other high-ranking officials sentenced to suspended death sentences with life imprisonment at Qincheng Prison have had their expulsion announcements framed in standard terms by the CCDI, as follows: "…severely violated the Party’s political, organizational, clean governance, work, and life discipline, constituting serious professional misconduct and suspected bribery crimes. Despite the 18th National Congress, they continued without restraint, with severe nature and bad influence, warranting serious punishment."

Entering a few names of provincial and deputy provincial-level officials expelled from the Party and handed over to the judiciary in recent years on the CCDI website reveals that most of them, including officials like Fu Zhenghua, Sun Lijun, Wang Like, Zhao Zhengyong, and others sentenced to suspended death sentences with life imprisonment, such as former Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of Inner Mongolia Xing Yun, former General Manager of China Huadian Corporation Yun Gongmin, former Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China Fan Yifei, former Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Committee Sun Zhigang, as well as former Vice Chairman of the Yunnan CPPCC Huang Yi (who received only a 13-year sentence in July last year due to a relatively small bribery amount), former Chairman of the Shanghai People’s Congress Standing Committee Dong Yung-hu (who was sentenced to life imprisonment despite receiving bribes amounting to 148 million yuan), former Minister of Justice Tang Yijun (recently arrested by the Supreme Court), and former Chairman of the Ningxia CPPCC Han Yong (awaiting a court trial) all had identical phrases in the CCDI expulsion announcements.

This means that officials like Tang Yijun, who have been expelled from the Party and await judicial proceedings, have only been described in the CCDI expulsion notices as having "vile" misconduct rather than "extremely vile," "severe circumstances" rather than "especially severe," and "adverse impact" rather than "extremely bad" or "extraordinarily adverse." Nonetheless, they may still face judicial outcomes such as suspended death sentences with life imprisonment.

Moreover, all these CCDI announcements include phrases like "illegally receiving huge sums of money." Comparing the judicial outcomes for these individuals in the future will show that "huge sums" can range from just a few million yuan to hundreds of millions or even billions.

Among the provincial and deputy provincial-level officials mentioned above, currently under CCDI investigation are Tang Renjian, Gou Zhongwen, Li Weiwei, Wu Yingjie, and Qi Tongsheng, who will be further analyzed in future articles. As for Li Yuefeng, his case will be addressed in a piece focused on anti-corruption efforts targeting non-Party individuals. Below, we’ll analyze Tang Yijun’s case.

Like Fu Zhenghua, Tang Yijun, also a former Minister of Justice, could potentially face life imprisonment, as seen in the cases of Fu Zhenghua and Sun Zhigang. The likelihood of him receiving only a lighter sentence, such as a ten-year fixed term, like Huang Yi, is small. The key factor will be the amount of bribe money the court finds him guilty of accepting.

In the August 23 Night Talk from Zhongnanhai column article The Story of Evergrande Chairman Xu Jiayin, Secretary Sun Zhigang, and Governor Tang Yijun, it was predicted that the CCDI’s future expulsion announcement on Tang Yijun would likely include language such as "failing to emphasize family values, neglecting to supervise and educate his spouse and children; turning the public power granted by the Party and the people into a tool for personal gain."

As predicted, in the October 7 announcement of Tang Yijun’s expulsion from the Party, the list of criminal activities included: "…accepting bribes and using his position to benefit others in the selection and appointment of officials; losing the integrity baseline, using his power to help relatives in financial dealings; violating regulations, interfering in market economic activities and judicial matters; improper family values, neglecting supervision and education of his spouse; disregarding Party discipline and law, turning public power into a tool for personal gain, engaging in power-for-money exchanges, using his position to facilitate personal gain for others in business operations, company listings, promotions, case handling, and illegally accepting large sums of money."

The author compared the CCDI notices on Tang Yijun and Sun Zhigang. Apart from similar content, Tang Yijun had an additional charge of "seeking benefits for others and accepting property during the selection and appointment of officials," a charge that Sun Zhigang did not face.

In early April, the overseas Chinese newspaper Sing Tao Daily published an article titled The Inside Story of Tang Yijun’s Fall: As Liaoning Governor, He Had Close Ties with Evergrande’s Xu Jiayin and Helped Control Shengjing Bank’s Hundreds of Billions in Bad Debts, revealing that Tang Yijun, while serving in Ningbo, allowed his family to interfere in projects, sparking significant local discontent. Some even said Tang Yijun’s wife was involved in business from behind the scenes and had a particularly domineering personality.

The CCDI notice also mentioned that Tang "used his power to help relatives secure financial business contracts and interfered in market economic activities in violation of regulations," confirming the claims made in the earlier Sing Tao Daily article.

Also in April, the domestic platform NetEase published an article titled 30 Billion Bad Debt, Guizhou Bank Was Hit Hard by Evergrande. Even if this 30 billion in bad debt were attributed to Sun Zhigang, who personally brought Xu Jiayin to Guizhou, it would still be a small fraction of the hundreds of billions in bad debt caused by Tang Yijun's "interference in market economic activities" with Shengjing Bank. The rewards both men received from Xu Jiayin were likely disproportionate as well. Judging by this alone, the amount of bribery and embezzlement involving Tang Yijun and his relatives was likely substantial. Even if it did not break the record of 813 million yuan in corruption set by Sun Zhigang, it is still possible that Tang Yijun may serve alongside Sun Zhigang in Qincheng Prison for the rest of his life.

(Adapted from Radio Free Asia)