China's former railway minister escapes execution

China's former railway minister escaped execution: The Chinese Supreme Court ruled that the death sentences of the former Railway Minister Liu Zhijun and Gu Kailai, wife of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member, Bo Xilai, be converted to life for 'good conduct'.

According to the news of CCTV, China's state television, 62-year-old Liu and Gu were given a 'good mood reduction' on the grounds that the 'two-year suspended death penalty' previously given 'participated in technical and cultural studies' and 'followed the rules'. was recorded. It was stated that Liu and Gu took ideological lessons and participated in physical work activities in prison.

Liu was sentenced to death on July 10 for taking 2013 million bribes and abusing his authority. The Chinese Ministry of Railways was abolished in March 2013 and combined with the Ministry of Transport.

Gu Kailai was sentenced to a two-year suspended death sentence for poisoning the murder of a British businessman named Neil Heywood in 2012. The lawyer and businesswoman Gu was the wife of Bo Xilai, the former CCP policeman who is seen as the future leader of China. Bo Xilai was also sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2013 for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

Bo's case was described as the 'case of the century' in China and it kept the public opinion inside and outside the country busy for a long time.
In China, two-year postponed or suspended death sentences are often reduced to life imprisonment.

Under China's penal code, the death penalty is converted to life imprisonment if death row inmates did not knowingly commit a crime during their suspension. Again, life sentence prisoners can be converted to 25 years if they perform well in prison and make a big contribution.

After taking office, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that he would fight against corruption decisively and intolerantly, and gave the message that the fight would continue with almost everyone, from high-level bureaucrats defined as 'tigers' to lower-level bureaucrats called 'flies'.