AP, Beijing :
Prosecutors charged former national security chief Zhou Yongkang with corruption and leaking of state secrets, setting the stage for him to become the highest-level politician to stand trial in China in more than three decades.
he Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced the long-expected indictment on its website Friday following a lengthy investigation that also scrutinized Zhou’s former allies in government and the oil industry, but gave no new substantial details of the accusations against him.
A former member of the Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, the dour-faced and once-feared Zhou had been under investigation since late 2013, and has been unavailable for comment since then.
“Announcing the charges against him means the beginning of the end for Zhou,” said Dali Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, reflecting the widely held notion that Zhou’s conviction was virtually assured.
Prosecutors charged former national security chief Zhou Yongkang with corruption and leaking of state secrets, setting the stage for him to become the highest-level politician to stand trial in China in more than three decades.
he Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced the long-expected indictment on its website Friday following a lengthy investigation that also scrutinized Zhou’s former allies in government and the oil industry, but gave no new substantial details of the accusations against him.
A former member of the Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, the dour-faced and once-feared Zhou had been under investigation since late 2013, and has been unavailable for comment since then.
“Announcing the charges against him means the beginning of the end for Zhou,” said Dali Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, reflecting the widely held notion that Zhou’s conviction was virtually assured.
