Du Shicheng, former deputy secretary of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has been sentenced to life in jail for taking bribes.

Du, also former secretary of the CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee, was found to take advantage of his posts to take 6.26 million yuan (US$871,866) worth of bribes and seek illegal gains for some organizations and individuals from 2000 to January 2006, when he served vice governor of the eastern Shandong Province, mayor of Qingdao and secretary of the CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee.

The sentence was handed down at the Intermediate People's Court of Xiamen, southeastern Fujian Province on Tuesday.

Judges took a lenient attitude in giving the verdict because Du had confessed some crimes the judicial authorities had not known, according to the ruling.

Du was born in March 1950 in Longkou, Shandong and joined the CPC in December 1972.

He was removed from his CPC posts for "serious discipline violation" in late December 2006, and was expelled from the Party for taking bribes and leading a dissolute life in April last year.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2008)