Liu Fangren, former secretary of the Guizhou Provincial
Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was tried in
Beijing Tuesday on charges of taking bribes.
Tuesday's trial was open to the public, and Liu and his attorney
both appeared in court. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's
Court did not immediately hand down a verdict, stating this would
be announced at a future date. The date was not immediately
announced.
Liu, 68, was the Party chief of southwest
Guizhou Province from 1993 to 2001 and appointed as vice
chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the 9th
National People's Congress in April 2002. He was expelled from the
CPC and turned over to judicial authorities last April.
Liu's former colleague, Liu Changgui, former vice governor of
Guizhou Province, was also tried for corruption in March this year.
Lu Wanli, former director of Guizhou Provincial Transportation
Department, was sentenced to death on May 11 after being convicted
of taking bribes.
Guizhou, located in southwest China, is one of China's most
impoverished provinces. It has a population of about 38
million.
In 2003, 12 provincial or ministerial-level officials were
punished for corruption, including the former Party secretaries of
Hebei and Guizhou provinces, Cheng Weigao and Liu Fangren; former
Yunnan Governor Li Jiating; former Minister of Land and Natural
Resources Tian Fengshan; and former Anhui Vice Governor Wang
Huaizhong. Wang was executed after being convicted of corruption in
February this year.
Also in 2003, Wang Xuebing, former president of China
Construction Bank, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on a
charge of accepting bribes.
In February of 2004, Zhang Guoguang, former governor of Hubei
Province, was expelled from the CPC and turned over to the judicial
authorities on charges of taking bribes.
(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2004)