From Peoples Daily Online via Yunlun Jiandu, translated by CDT:
Qin Lianhui, deputy secretary of Fushun city party branch of Liaoning, was sentenced to 13 years for taking and making bribes. Its found that Qin took more than 400,000 yuan from an entrepreneur in Fushun for several occasions and he once bribed a city senior official for a county position with 200,000 yuan he received as a bribe. In court trial, Qin frequently cried for innocence and turned to weeping for times. But he rejected the accusations. Whenever he got a chance to speak, he spoke about his poor family background and how he lived an economical life while shedding tears in court.
Tears are a common by-product of many trials of corrupt officials recently. Ma De, former Suihua party secretary and main culprit of Chinas biggest office-trading case, also cried in his trial. I am a son of peasants, and shouldve relished my career and responsibilities…
Bi Yuxi, former deputy chief of Beijing city transportation bureau, wrote in his letter of regret, I am a cadre educated by the Party for many years, and also a son of average peasants. Li Xin, the former Jining vice mayor who knelt down to plead associate not to report him, also spent half an hour in his trial recalling his experiences growing from an elementary school boy to become a cadre. He said his childhood was full of bitterness, had to help the family at night while attending school in the day. But all these seem to be pleading for a lighter punishment on their crimes.
There is, however, some cases where the corrupt officials truly reflected on his wrongs. Shao Jianwei, former boss of Linfen city public security bureau in Shanxi, was sentenced for 9 years in prison for taking bribes last November. Shao, who once refused to take 100 yuan as a thanks-fee and later took 4.8 million yuan in total, pleaded to make him an education material and warning for other officials. He wrote in his letter of regret:
As my position changes and power increases, I had to face the seduction of a table of banquet, a tour trip, an item or a stack of renminbi notes. Faced with these psychological and material pressures, I had a fierce struggle between my biological human-ness and political party-ness. But in the end, my human-ness won over the party-ness. Under the enticement of a variety of material interests, my thoughts swayed and then changes followed.
All these seem too late. But lets hope these only remaining feeling of shame can rouse their consciousness and teach more, other corrupt officials a lesson. [Full Text in Chinese]
