Former vice mayor's death penalty appeal denied

A former vice mayor of China's eastern resort city of Hangzhou was denied an appeal for his death sentence, a higher court confirmed Thursday.

The Higher People's Court of Zhejiang Province announced its decision on Tuesday to uphold the death sentence of Xu Maiyong, one of the harshest sentences handed down to a high-level Chinese official in recent years.

Xu, 52, was convicted of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power on May 12 at the Intermediate People's Court of Zhejiang's city of Ningbo.

The former vice mayor of the provincial capital was also stripped of his political rights for life and all of his personal property was confiscated.

The official verdict said Xu made 145 million yuan (about 22.2 million U.S. dollars) in illegal profits by interfering in project contracts and by helping companies and people to obtain land, promotions and tax breaks between 1995 and 2009.

Xu also embezzled state-owned assets worth a total of more than 53 million yuan, according to the verdict.

Source: Xinhua

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