China Sentences Ex-Presidential Aide to Life for Corruption
- Ling convicted of obtaining secrets, abusing power in trial
- Ex-aide to Hu Jintao among officials linked to security czar
Former secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Ling Jihua in 2013.
Photographer: Lintao Zhang/Getty ImagesA Chinese court sentenced a former top aide to retired President Hu Jintao to life imprisonment in a closed-door trial, capping a series of prosecutions against top Communist Party officials under Xi Jinping.
Ling Jihua, 59, who once served as Hu’s chief of staff, was convicted Monday of taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abusing power, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the verdict from Tianjin’s No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court. He pleaded guilty June 7 during a one-day trial that was held in secret because the charges involved state secrets, said the court, which handed down a life sentence in a similar case last year against former security czar Zhou Yongkang, a retired member of the Politburo’s supreme Standing Committee.