Liu Zhijun, Minister for Railways from 2003 to 2011, has been given a death sentence in China, suspended for two-years, for bribery and abuse of power in connection with construction of the highspeed rail network. The Beijing court also "deprived his political right for life and confiscated all his personal property", according to state media reports. Suspended death sentences in China that include a two-year reprieve are usually commuted to life imprisonment. The court's verdict is likely to require Mr Liu to spend at least ten years in jail. The sentence follows Mr Liu's guilty plea to accepting bribes. The trail followed his arrest and removal from office in 2011 and his expulsion from the Communist Party in May 2012.
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