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)