Chinese Court Sentences Former Police Chief To Death

China has sentenced to death the former police chief of the northern region of Inner Mongolia.

Zhao Liping, 65, was convicted of murder, bribery, and possession of firearms and explosives, the official Xinhua news agency reports.

A court in Taiyuan City in the northern province of Shanxi ruled that Zhao Liping had killed a person surnamed Li in March last year.

He also took over 2 million yuan (US$290,000) in bribes and illegally stored 91 detonators in his office while working as the police chief of Inner Mongolia from 2008 to 2010.

The court said “The nature of Zhao Liping’s murder was sinful, the plot especially vile, the means especially cruel, the danger to society grave.” and added that because Zhao Liping had also refused to plead guilty he should be severely punished

Zhao first became police chief of the region in 2005 and had worked as a police officer for almost three decades.

He was detained on suspicion of the murder of a woman last year and was formally charged in February 2016.

State media has previously reported that the victim was his mistress, whom he stabbed, shot and then burned the body after she threatened to expose his corrupt behavior.