In late July, China’s anti-corruption crackdown officially targeted the highest-ranking Chinese Communist Party member ever: Zhou Yongkang, formerly a Politburo Standing Committee member and the head of China’s internal security apparatus. In July, Zhou was formally placed under Party investigation for “serious disciplinary violations.” On Friday, the CCP announced that it has officially expelled Zhou for his crimes and has turned his case over to the legal system for investigation and eventual prosecution.
In the Chinese system, Party members are first investigated internally by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). The bulk of the investigation takes place in secret; once the Party publicly announces that a particular official is under investigation, his or her fate is a foregone conclusion. Friday’s announcement regarding Zhou, then, comes as no surprise but it does bring us one step closer to what will surely give the Bo Xilai case some competition as China’s “trial of the century.”
Zhou’s case has now been turned over to the legal system, which will officially prosecute him for the crimes uncovered by the CCDI. According to Xinhua, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced in a statement that prosecutors have already decided to arrest Zhou “according to the law.” Given China’s current focus on the “rule of law,” Zhou’s trial is sure to be a carefully managed showcase for the Chinese legal system, as Bo Xilai’s was, with every pretense of legal defense. But the verdict is a foregone conclusion; the only question is whether Zhou will escape with a prison sentence or whether (as some in China whisper) he will be given the death penalty to serve as a warning to China’s other “tigers.”
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