(TibetanReview.net, Jan16’22) – For what amounts to questioning President Xi Jinping’s leadership as well as for allegedly being corrupt, Sun Lijun, a former vice-minister of public security, was put under investigation and is now being tried by the Changchun People’s Procuratorate in Jilin province.
He has been charged with taking bribes, manipulating the securities market and illegal possession of firearms, reported China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Jan 14, citing the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
Last September, the party’s disciplinary and anti-graft watchdog said that Sun had forsaken the “Two Upholds” – upholding the authority of the party’s central committee and Xi’s core position in it – and was kicked out of the party, noted Reuters Jan 13.
The report cited the party watchdog as also saying Sun had harboured inflated political ambitions, made inappropriate comments about the party’s policy direction, spread political rumours, endangered political security, formed cliques to grow his personal influence and “seriously destroyed” party unity.
Now a public lawsuit has been filed against Sun at the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court.
The chinadaily.com.cn report cited prosecutors as saying: “Sun had capitalized on his positions and influence, including as head of the general operations division of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government foreign affairs office, deputy head of the general office of the Ministry of Public Security, and vice-minister of Public Security, for the benefit of others and to manipulate the securities market, acts for which he received bribes and properties in return. He also violated gun control regulations and owned firearms illegally.”
The report noted that Sun, 53, was placed under investigation for suspected severe violation of Party discipline and national laws by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Supervisory Commission in Apr 2020. He was expelled from the Communist Party of China and removed from office in September last year.
Sun, from Qingdao, Shandong province, began work in Sep 1988 and became a Party member in Dec 1997, the CCDI has said on its website.
