back to article Chinese official gets suspended death sentence over anti-virus scam

A Chinese appeals court has confirmed a suspended death sentence against a corrupt official who took bribes and sent an innocent marketing executive to prison for a year in order to line his pockets. Yu Bing, a former director of the network monitoring department of the Ministry of Public Security, embezzled 4.52 million yuan …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Drop and Ocean

    One can only assume he didn't offer a big enough bribe to his boss, the local judge, et al.

    If the chinese government locked up every corrupt official in china, there would be no government, and no administration.

  2. hahnchen
    Coat

    Suspended Death Sentence?

    Does that mean hanging?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Chances are a lethal injection.

      From wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

      "China currently uses two methods of execution. Since 1949, the most common method was execution by firing squad, which has been largely superseded by lethal injection, using the same three-drug cocktail pioneered by the United States, introduced in 1997. Execution vans are unique to China though. Lethal injection is more commonly used for "economic crimes", such as corruption, while firing squads are used for more common crimes, like murder. There is a general trend towards moving to lethal injection, though. The cost of a lethal injection is cheaper, and according to a court official in Kunming, it lessens the risk of HIV in the cleanup of the firing squad. This method is promoted by the Central People's Government as less painful and more humane, and it plans to phase out the use of firing squads by 2010."

      Last I heard on the subject, they still billed the family for the cost - for shooting, the cost of the round expended, for injection, probably the cost of the chemicals.

      1. Richard 120

        So...

        Is there a wikipedia page for humour?

        Perhaps you could look it up.

        In the meantime, allow me to explain, the comment you replied to was a pun.

        Suspended -> Hanging

    2. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      Re: suspended death sentence?

      It sounds more like if he gets so much as a parking ticket in the next two years he gets a bullet in the head.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Unhappy

      I wouldn't like to be....

      .... the person who has to get him down after being suspended for two years......

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      No, it means that he gets executed in at least 2 years time

      This is something which is unique to China.

      They take the "revenge is dish best served cold" gag very seriously. So you are left to live for a couple of years before you are shot and you know every minute of it that you will be shot at the end.

      Almost as good as their classic methods of "hungry rat under a bucket" and "slow water drip onto your head" methods.

  3. ratfox

    Why did he get caught?

    One can only assume he pissed off the wrong person...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Are you sure?

    "an innocent marketing executive"

    Are you sure they were innocent?

    Perhaps this is just karma's way of cleaning up a previous mess.

    1. ElReg!comments!Pierre
      Coat

      I'm with AC

      "karma's way of cleaning up a previous mess."

      "an innocent *marketing* *executive*" (my emphasis)

      Clearly Karma.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Suspended Death Sentence?

    Joking aside for moment, what does a "death sentence suspended for two years" actually mean?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      Suspended Death Sentence?

      The only was I can make sense of that phrase is that they plan on killing him in two years time. i.e. The sentence will be postponed for two years.

      But that can't really be what they meant Shirley.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Ouch baby ouch

    It seems a severe punishment and I wonder if the perp knew of the consequences beforehand.

    On the other hand, UK (un)civil servants would rapidly assimilate the individual (and associated <cough, cough> benefits) into the rank and file. New blood is rapidly needed in order to offset anticipated cuts to UK mandarinry.

    I should also add no disrespect to perp or his immediate family, friends and acquaintances is meant in this post however UK (un)civil servantry and madarinary is fully intended.

  7. LaeMing
    Stop

    Very easy to make snide comments about corruption in China

    even for me. Having lived there for several years, it is rather apparent. But also apparent is the moderate number of people on the inside genuinely intent on fighting it. I'd recommend people look in their own backyard a bit: my backyard of local politics in this part of Australia consists of more local councils run by auditors than councilors after the councilors were sacked for corruption (in one region some time back, when it came time to vote in a new council, the people protested they preferred the auditor to stay rather than them have to choose amongst the dross of small-time political wanna-bees on offer. Sadly, the auditor was not interested in breaking the law, even by popular demand).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Agree fully regarding the change that is happening.

      I was over in Shanghai a few months back, and in the news was how a local man was bullied into admitting murder a decade or two back. The supposed victim showed up in the airport and the case was immediately brought back and the wrongly jailed guy paid out for his suffering.

      The US bitches about how unfair the country is, how unjust, look at how they put people to death for no reason.. blah blah. Yes, that is the past (and certainly does probably still happen to a smaller extent). But US criminal "justice" will never release a man because they were innocent, in fact more people are on death row because the judge and jury didn't give a crap than are guilty of any capital crime.

      In the US, unless you are VERY wealthy, don't expect any fair shake. In China, gradually, the innocent are slowly being given back their lives. Better City, Better Life indeed.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Frankly, we could use a little Chinese justice here in the US of A

    That is all.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      yeah, that sounds great...

      ...Until you consider that the victim of the frameup was lucky to have avoided being executed before he was exonerated. A year ago, you'd probably have been rooting for the -victim- to have a bullet put in his head.

      Chinese style justice is fine - as long as you're willing to redefine 'justice' to include, 'oops, turns out this guy wasn't guilty after all. Too bad we shot him a week after his trial.'

      1. PT

        @yeah, that sounds great

        You make a good point. If US politicians faced a slap on the wrist for corruption, instead of being rewarded by a large salary for life with a lucrative job at a lobbying firm to look forward to, they wouldn't be so overt and blatant about taking bribes. So while it would be trivially easy to administer summary justice today, tomorrow they might cover their tracks a bit better and need some sort of investigation or trial. Bummer. But at least we could make a clean sweep of the current lot. That would feel good.

      2. mego

        Not much different

        From US justice. Just with more money involved, in the US if you don't have enough money to prove you're innocent you're generally fucked.

  9. bugalugs

    Chop for Top Cop ?

    As unlikely in China as anywhere else, frankly. The suspended sentence is, in effect, a stern rap on the knuckles as there doesn't appear to be any gaol time involved. Having his " illicit " gains confiscated will leave him plenty of licit gains to be going on with anyway, to be sure. Julian Assange is probably not the only person in the world with an insurance file btw.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not the same in the West

    Yes, it is true that corruption is not nearly the same over here!

    Indeed, here they get a slap on the wrist, then promoted a month later when noone is talking about it anymore, as well as getting a golden handshake and an obscene pension. Hell, they even get to pay their lawyers with our tax money! I don't suppose they would get all that if they were shot.

    What amazes me the most is that it doesn't seem to deter anyone, so maybe the government is right about the ineffectiveness of prison sentences in the UK (or maybe it has to do with the prisoners enjoying Sky and playing the Wii all day, something I can't afford myself).

  11. raving angry loony

    perfect

    New company name: Damocles

  12. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Throwing money into a blackhole?

    Or money well spent?

    It's 1.7 million Euros. Hardly a lot of money in the grand scheme of space travel. It costs roughly 450 million USD to launch a space shuttle.

    For all the doubters out cynics 1.7, to me at least, seems like a small amount to pay to find out if this idea would work. You all remind me of a joke about the LHC: "You can't turn it on until you know for sure what will happen"

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    "innocent marketing executive"

    The shade of Bill Hicks just chuckled quietly, I swear.

  14. BillG
    Go

    You Gotta Give the Chinese Credit...

    If we had that law in the USA, all of the people responsible for the crash of Wall Street would be on death row.

    Suspended for two years? The judge lets Yu Bing live his life under surveillance for two years, and then they pick him up and kill him? Man, that's COLD!

    Can we get Bernie Madoff tried by that same judge?

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