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AP
Chinese property mogul Ren Zhiqiang speaks at a press reception for his book on the Chinese property market in Shanghai.
The former president of a state-owned real estate company who publicly criticized President Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday on corruption charges, a court announced.
Ren Zhiqiang, who became known for speaking out on censorship and other sensitive topics, disappeared from public view in March after posting an online essay that accused Xi of mishandling the outbreak that began in December in the central city of Wuhan.
Xi, the party’s leader since 2012, has cracked down on criticism, tightened censorship and cracked down on unofficial organizations. Dozens of journalists, labor and human rights activists and others have been jailed.
Ren, 69, was convicted of corruption, bribery, embezzlement of public funds and abuse of power, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court announced on his social media account. He quoted Ren saying that he would not appeal.
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The former president and undersecretary of the Huayuan Group party was ousted from the ruling party in July.
In a comment that circulated on social media, Ren criticized a Feb.23 video conference with 170,000 officials held at the beginning of the pandemic in which Xi announced orders to respond to the disease.
Ren did not mention Xi’s name, but said: “Standing there was not an emperor showing off his new clothes, but a clown who had taken off his clothes and insisted on being an emperor.”
AP
Ren, the former president of a Chinese state-owned real estate company who publicly criticized President Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday.
Ren criticized propaganda showing Xi and other leaders as rescuing China from the disease without mentioning where it started and possible mistakes, including suppression of information at the beginning of the outbreak.
“People did not see any criticism at the conference. She did not investigate or reveal the truth, ”Ren wrote, according to a copy published by the China Digital Times, a California website. “No one reviewed or took responsibility. But they are trying to cover up the truth with all kinds of great achievements. “
Ren had an early military career and his parents were former senior Communist Party officials. Some called him a prince, a term for the offspring of the founders of the communist government, a group that includes Xi.
He appeared to have crossed a political line in criticizing Xi’s personal leadership.
