Yang Duoming, former vice-president of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The verdict was issued by the Railway Transport Intermediate Court in Liuzhou, a city in central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Friday.

According to the verdict, 20,000 yuan (about US$2,500) of Yang's private possession will be confiscated, and the 170,000 yuan (about US$21,000) of bribes he accepted will be handed over to the national treasury.

Yang accepted 110,000 yuan (about US$13,000) of bribe in 2000 and abused his power to change the original verdict on Wu Changkao, former head of the public security bureau of Yulin City. Wu was accused of accepting bribes and appropriating public assets, the court said.

Yang also accepted 30,000 yuan (about US$3,627) from people involved in two cases of economic disputes in 2000 and 2001, the court said.

Yang, aged 54, was appointed vice-president of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Higher People's Court in 1996 and was arrested on February 5, 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2005)