Another senior official has been sentenced to death in China's anti-corruption campaign. Former official Yang Youlin, who served in Nanjing, was found guilty of accepting bribes totaling 2.2 billion yuan ($324 million) between 1993 and 2023 in exchange for assistance with projects, land, and commercial activities.
The Changzhou People's Court also convicted Yang of embezzlement, misuse of public funds, abuse of power, and money laundering. The court ordered the recovery of all bribes and the confiscation of the defendant's entire assets.
Yang Youlin, seen in the courtroom wearing a navy blazer, expressed his guilt and remorse in his final statement. The death sentence was announced after public hearings held over two days in March and April, attended by more than 30 people.
The ruling stands as one of the harshest outcomes of President Xi Jinping's sweeping anti-corruption campaign. In recent years, other senior figures in China have also received death sentences in similar cases.
In 2021, Lai Xiaomin, party secretary of a state-owned company, was executed for bribery and polygamy. In 2024, Inner Mongolian official Li Jianping was executed after being convicted of embezzlement and bribery. Zhang Zhongsheng from Shanxi, who was sentenced to death in 2018 for taking over 1 billion yuan in bribes, had his sentence commuted to a suspended death sentence and life imprisonment in 2021 after appeal.