Former Chinese defence ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve over graft charges.
According to CNN, in a shocking move amid a continued purge of its military, China on Thursday, May 7, gave two former defense ministers suspended death sentences for corruption.
As per state media, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were both convicted of bribery and given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve by the country’s military court.
The court announced that the two former generals’ sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after two years.
Wei, 72, served as defense minister from 2018 to 2023. Li, 68, succeeded Wei and held the position for less than eight months in 2023.
Both men were placed under investigation by the military’s anti-graft arm in 2023.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has taken his purge of the armed forces to the very top, most recently targeting his highest-ranked general with the removal in January of Zhang Youxia, who outranked Wei and Li and once oversaw the military’s day-to-day operations.
The armed forces have been one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by President Xi Jinping after coming to power in 2012.
The purges reached the elite Rocket Force, which oversees nuclear weapons as well as conventional missiles, in 2023.
As per a report published in February by Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies thirty-six generals and lieutenant generals have been officially purged since 2022, while another 65 officers are listed as missing or potentially purged.
