Duan Yanli, a former village committee director in north China's Hebei Province, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on Thursday for gang crimes.

Duan, 36, was convicted of organizing illegal gangs to commit crimes including bribery, possession of guns, organizing prostitution rings, racketeering and gambling from 1997 to 2006, according to the Intermediate Court of Chengde City.

Duan, former director of Villagers Committee of Nanshange Village in Luanxian County, was arrested in May last year.

Members of Duan's gang also received jail sentences, the most severe being 19 years, the court said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2007)