China ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang gets life sentence
Source: Xinhua
Mr Zhou was head of China's vast internal security machine until 2012
China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang, 72, has been sentenced to life in prison, Chinese media report.
He was found guilty of bribery, abuse of power and "intentionally disclosing national secrets", China's official Xinhua news agency reports.
Until his retirement in 2012, Mr Zhou was one of China's most powerful men.
He was put under investigation after Xi Jinping took over as president a year later, as part of a major anti-corruption campaign.
Mr Zhou pleaded guilty at a closed-door trial in the northern city of Tianjin. According to Xinhua, he said he would not launch an appeal.
Analysis: Celia Hatton, BBC News, Beijing
The verdict caught many people off guard.
It was expected that Zhou Yongkang's trial would be played out for the Chinese public; his failings strung out for every citizen to see.
In similar high-profile cases, like that of Mr. Zhou's protege, Bo Xilai, the foreign and Chinese media were given 48 hours' notice that Bo's trial would begin. Reporters camped outside the courthouse for days, breathlessly waiting for updates.
In March, the head of China's Supreme People's Court had promised that Zhou Yongkang's trial would be "open in accordance with the law". The trial was set to take place in the eastern port city of Tianjin. It seemed Zhou was set to follow Bo's pattern.
Months passed without any word. Some guessed that Zhou Yongkang was not co-operating with prosecutors. Others believed that his crimes were too much of an embarrassment for the government.
After all, Zhou Yongkang had held a seat at the very top of the Chinese government pyramid. If he was thoroughly corrupt, some in China might ask whether others at the top were rotten too.
In the end, the decision to keep Zhou Yongkang's trial secret matches the case surrounding him, and Mr Zhou's own public persona: closed and secretive.
The news agency said Mr Zhou was tried on 22 May, but there was no public announcement until the conviction was announced on Thursday.
In a breakdown of the ruling, Xinhua reports that Mr Zhou received a life sentence for accepting bribes, seven years for abuse of power and four years for "deliberately releasing state secrets".
All political rights have been stripped and his property confiscated, it added.
Mr Zhou was charged in April, nine months after a formal investigation was announced. He has since been expelled from the Communist Party.
He was once head of the Ministry of Public Security, as well as a member of China's top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee.
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