Two former Chinese defense ministers have been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on corruption charges, state media reports.
Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were convicted of bribery by a military court on Thursday. Their death sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years, with no possibility of sentence reduction or parole. All of their personal assets have been confiscated.
This ruling is part of a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown that has recently seen the ousting of several top military figures.
Wei served as defense minister from 2018 to 2023, succeeded by Li in March 2023. Li's tenure was brief; he was dismissed in October 2023, two months after vanishing from public view, sparking speculation about his removal.
In February, President Xi Jinping made a rare public reference to the crackdown, stating the army had "undergone revolutionary tempering in the fight against corruption." Critics view Xi's anti-corruption campaigns as a tool to purge political rivals.