China sentences top official for corruption
Zhou Yongkang, China's former domestic security chief, stands between his police escorts as he listens to his sentence in a court in Tianjin, China, in this still image taken from video provided by China Central Television and shot on June 11, 2015 Reuters
 

China has sentenced a former top communist party leader to 12 years in prison for corruption.

A court in Beijing on Wednesday handed the sentence to Yang Gang, who was the Chinese Communist Party chief in Urumqi, the capital of the  restive Xinjiang region.

Yang, who served as party boss in the violence-hit region between 1999 and 2006, had been indicted last year for accepting bribes.

The Beijing court said Yang abused his power while working in Xinjiang by providing "assistance" to others in promotions and winning contracts, Reuter reported.

The court found that he took 13.79 million yuan ($2.10 million) in bribes that were channeled via his wife and son.

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