Two former Chinese defense ministers accused of bribery have been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, according to state media.
The death sentences for Li Shangfu and his predecessor, Wei Fenghe, were issued by a Chinese military court on May 7, according to a brief report from state media Xinhua News Agency, which tightly controlled the flow of information out of the country.
That means that if they display good behavior over the next two years, their death sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment.
A separate investigation into Wei, who served as the defense minister from 2018 to 2023, found that Wei allegedly accepted “huge amounts of money,” state media Xinhua reported in June 2024, calling his behavior “extremely serious in nature.”
The latest announcement from Xinhua didn’t provide further details of their alleged wrongdoing.
In July 2023, a notice issued by the Central Military Commission stated that authorities were collecting tips about corruption in the equipment procurement system. The commission outlined in its guidelines what constitutes inappropriate conduct, including awarding contracts to companies owned by officials’ friends or family members and leaking confidential project information. Most notably, investigators are examining disciplinary violations that began in October 2017.