A military court in China has sentenced two former defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, to death with a two-year reprieve after finding them guilty of corruption-related offences.
The sentences were delivered separately in Beijing on Thursday following investigations that lasted close to two years.
Under China’s legal system, a death sentence with a two-year reprieve is reserved for serious offences such as large-scale corruption, premeditated murder and major drug trafficking crimes.
Although the sentence carries the threat of execution, those convicted are usually kept in prison during the reprieve period instead of facing immediate execution.
According to the court, the punishment for both men will automatically be reduced to life imprisonment without parole after the expiration of the two-year reprieve.
The court also ordered that both former officials lose their political rights permanently, while all personal assets linked to them would be confiscated.
Wei and Li previously served as state councillors in addition to their roles as members of the Central Military Commission.
Court documents showed that Wei was convicted for accepting bribes, while Li was found guilty of both offering and receiving bribes.
Authorities did not disclose the amount involved in the cases. However, reports noted that one of the last senior Chinese officials to receive a suspended death sentence was Gu Junshan, a former deputy director in the military’s general logistics department.
Gu’s corruption case was said to involve more than 600 million yuan, which was estimated at about 98 million US dollars.
