1st Ld: Zhou Yongkang sentenced to life in prison

Zhou Yongkang was sentenced to life imprisonment Thursday, deprived of his political rights for life and his personal assets confiscated, for accepting bribes, abusing power and deliberately disclosing state secrets, the Tianjin Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court ruled.

Zhou pled guilty and will not appeal.

The court heard the case of Zhou on May 22. Charged with disclosure of state secrets, this trial was not open to the public.

Zhou was convicted of taking bribe of about 130 million yuan (21.3 million U.S. dollars), said the court judgement.

According to the court, Zhou took the advantage of his position to seek profits for five persons identified as Wu Bing, Ding Xuefeng, Wen Qingshan, Zhou Hao and Jiang Jiemin, and accepted money and property worth 731,100 yuan from Jiang.

Zhou was informed after the fact that his wife Jia Xiaoye and son Zhou Bin had accepted money and property worth 129 million yuan. Endi