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Death Sentences With Reprieve
China’s military court sentenced former defence ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu to death with a two-year reprieve over graft charges, according to state media reports on Thursday.
“were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve over graft charges”
The rulings were issued by a military court and reported by the official Xinhua News Agency, with both men also being former members of the Central Military Commission and former state councillors.
CNN said the court announced the two former generals’ sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after two years.
The same Xinhua framing described Wei as convicted of accepting bribes and Li as convicted of crimes of both accepting and offering bribes.
Purge Reaches Top Ranks
The sentencing landed amid what CNN described as a continued purge of China’s armed forces, with Xi Jinping’s shake-up cutting across the People’s Liberation Army.
CNN reported that Xi’s shake-up has cut across a wide swath of China’s 2 million-strong People’s Liberation Army, with more than 100 officers potentially ousted since 2022.
It also said 36 generals and lieutenant generals have been officially purged since 2022, while another 65 officers are listed as missing or potentially purged, according to a report published in February by Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In the same CNN account, an editorial published by the official PLA Daily newspaper said the investigations will “remove toxic influences” within the PLA and “help the people’s armed forces undergo a thorough renewal, injecting powerful momentum into the drive to build a strong military”.
Stripped Rights, Assets Confiscated
Beyond the suspended death penalties, Xinhua said both Wei and Li were stripped of their political rights for life and that all of their personal property will be confiscated.
“stripped of their political rights for life, and all of their personal property will be confiscated”
Xinhua also stated that no further commutation or parole will be allowed after their penalties are commuted to life imprisonment in accordance with the law upon the expiration of the two-year reprieve period.
CNA similarly said the punishments were believed to rank among the harshest imposed on senior Chinese military officials in decades and tied the case to the severity of China’s anti-corruption drive within its armed forces.
In CNA’s account, the purges reached the elite Rocket Force, which oversees nuclear weapons as well as conventional missiles, in 2023, and it said the ongoing military corruption purges are leaving serious deficiencies in its command structure and are likely to have hampered the readiness of its rapidly modernising armed forces.
