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Former Beijing official sentenced for corruption

Former Beijing vice mayor Liu Zhihua (劉志華), who was in charge of overseeing Olympic construction projects, has been given a death sentence for corruption, a court clerk and his lawyer said.

The Intermediate People’s Court in Hengshui, near Beijing, ordered the death sentence on Saturday after finding Liu guilty of taking bribes, said a court clerk surnamed Ma.

The sentence was “suspended” for two years, Ma said. If Liu shows good behavior his sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment.

Officials said Liu’s misdeeds had nothing to do with Olympic projects, but his dismissal put a cloud over preparations for the Games.

Liu was elected to his post as vice mayor of Beijing in 1999 and dismissed and kicked out of the Communist Party in 2006.

Liu faced 10 charges for accepting bribes totaling about 7 million yuan (US$1 million) and gifts in return for favors to property development companies while vice mayor, his lawyer Mo Shaoping said.

“Liu will probably appeal the verdict and the final decision will be made soon,” Mo said.

Meanwhile, a Tibetan monk who was jailed after helping make a film about the Olympics and Tibet has been released but was severely tortured while in prison, the filmmakers said.

Farmer Dhondup Wangchen and his friend Golog Jigme — a monk also known as Jigme Gyatso — were detained shortly after finishing the film, called Leaving Fear Behind, but managed to smuggle tapes out of the country.

The film was shown to a small group of foreign reporters in secret in Beijing during the Olympics.

“It is not clear, according to information from Tibet, if all charges against Jigme Gyatso have been dismissed. He was told by the authorities that he will stay under observance and his probation will last one year,” the filmmakers said in a statement seen yesterday.

“The interrogators beat him continuously and hanged him by his feet from the ceiling for hours and kept him tied for days,” they said.

Dhondup Wangchen is still in detention and there is no news of his pending trial, they said.

The film features interviews with Tibetans about how their culture had been trampled on, how they still loved their exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and how they viewed the Olympics as having done little to improve their lives.
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