The former head of a Beijing court has received a suspended death sentence for bribery and embezzlement that earned him more than a million dollars, state media reported Thursday.
Guo Shenggui, the former president of the Xicheng District People's Court in central Beijing, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Such rulings typically result in the death sentence being commuted to a jail term.
Guo received almost 8 million yuan (1.2 million dollars) in illicit money in the space of just over eight years in bribes and embezzlement of public funds, Xinhua said.
He was bribed by more than 10 people to influence lawsuits and bids for construction projects, it added.
China's ruling Communist Party has struggled in recent years to contain rampant graft involving officials, with leaders regularly warning that such episodes threaten the party's legitimacy.
