China gives suspended death sentence to former Xinjiang official for corruption

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| Photo Credit: AP

China has handed down a suspended death sentence to a former Xinjiang official for taking $112 million in bribes, a court announced on Tuesday (April 22, 2025).

The court in Baoji, Shaanxi province, said that Li Pengxin, former deputy secretary of the Communist Party committee in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, had amassed “especially huge sums” by abusing various official positions between 1999 and 2023, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

He provided assistance to “units and individuals in mineral exploitation, business operations, cadre appointments, and other matters” in return for bribes, CCTV said.

The court found Li’s crimes were “especially grave”, while the “social impact was particularly vile”.

His execution was stayed because of his confession and cooperation with investigators, but his life sentence will not be commuted.

Li served as deputy party secretary in the western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from 2016 to 2021 after stints in Qinghai province and Inner Mongolia.

He was first investigated for corruption in 2023.

President Xi Jinping has overseen a wide-ranging campaign against official corruption since coming to power more than a decade ago, with critics saying it also serves as a way to purge political rivals.

Li’s time in Xinjiang coincided with a ramping up of surveillance and control aimed at the region’s Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

Rights groups have accused China’s ruling Communist Party of committing grievous human rights abuses in Xinjiang, in what the United States and lawmakers in some other countries have called a “genocide”.

Beijing vociferously denies the allegations, arguing that its policies in Xinjiang have helped to curb religious extremism and boost economic development.