China Security Head’s Secret Trial Shows Limits of Xi’s Push
In this file photo, Zhou Yongkang, then member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee, attends the second plenary session of China's 11th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China, on Saturday, March 8, 2008. Former Chinese security chief Zhou Yongkang has been sentenced to life in prison after a secret trial, making him the highest-level official prosecuted in President Xi Jinping's signature campaign against corruption.
Photographer: Nelson Ching/BloombergThe conviction of China’s former security chief in a secret one-day trial laid bare the limits of President Xi Jinping’s campaign against corruption and undercut his pledge to enforce the rule of law.
After suggesting as recently as March that at least part of Zhou Yongkang’s hearing would be public, authorities announced Thursday he’d been sentenced to life in prison after closed-door proceedings last month in Tianjin. Zhou pleaded guilty to three charges including bribery, abuse of power and leaking state secrets, the official Xinhua News Agency said.