Ex-senior political advisor of Liaoning sentenced to death with two-year reprieve

JINAN, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Li Wenxi, former vice chairman of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was on Friday sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes.

Li was also deprived of his political rights for life, and all his personal assets were confiscated, according to the Intermediate People's Court of Tai'an in Shandong Province.

The court established that between 2004 and 2021, Li had taken advantage of his various posts to assist others in matters such as business operations and the handling of cases. From 2006 to 2021, Li received money and valuables totaling more than 540 million yuan (about 78.36 million U.S. dollars).

The sum of bribes Li had taken was particularly large, and his crimes brought significantly heavy losses to the interests of the state and the people, the court said.

The court said that in light of the fact that Li had confessed to all of his crimes, showed repentance, been cooperative in returning his illegal gains, and contributed to investigations in other discipline and law violation cases, he was granted a lenient sentence.

After the two-year reprieve for his death sentence, Li's sentence can be commuted to life in prison in accordance with the law, but no further reduction or parole shall be granted, the court said.