Sun Lijun, the former deputy minister of Public Security in the People’s Republic of China, was given a suspended death sentence by the Intermediate People’s Court in Changchun – a town in the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin, on Friday. The 53-year-old’s suspended death sentence could be revised to a life sentence without parole, after two years. 

Also read: Top Chinese officials face suspended death sentences

Lijun was accused of accepting bribes for government jobs and business favours, helping criminals escape, and influencing the securities market by abusing his power. Reports suggest that his personal property, much of which has now been flagged illegal, might also be seized. 

Who is Sun Lijun?

Sun Lijun is a top security officer in the People’s Republic of China and a senior member of the Communist Party. He served in multiple positions related to state security in the Communist Party as well as the Chinese government.  

He was born on January 13, 1969, in Shanghai and completed his college education at the University of New South Wales in Australia. He joined the Communist Party in 1997 and rose through the ranks to become the deputy director of the General Office of the Ministry of Public Security – or simply put, the chief of police activities in China. 

In March 2018, he became a deputy minister under Xi Jinping and was inducted into the Party Committee of the Ministry of Public Security as a member. 

When allegations of serious corruption surfaced against him in 2020, he was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) – the party’s top anti-corruption watchdog.

The National Supervisory Commission, which is a state anti-corruption body in China, was also investigating him. The investigation began in April 2020 and concluded on Friday, September 23, 2022, with a suspended death sentence. 

The party had already expelled him in September 2021, after the CCDI found allegations against him to be true.

Also read: Russia partial mobilisation: How other countries reacted?

The court statement sentencing Sun said that he has been taking bribes since 2001 when he was the deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau. It is being reported that Sun accepted bribes worth $91 million in his whole career spanning almost two decades.

Former justice minister Fu Zhenghua, and the in-charge of political and legal affairs in eastern Jiangsu province, Wang Like, were also givens suspended death sentences, a day before Wang.