Ren Zhiqiang, Critic Of Chinese President Xi Jinping Who Is Jailed For 18 Years For Corruption

JAKARTA - The Chinese tycoon who frequently criticizes President Xi Jinping for handling COVID-19, Ren Zhiqiang received an 18-year prison sentence on corruption charges. The court found him guilty on the day, this is September 22.

According to CNN, Ren Zhiqiang is a real estate entrepreneur who has close ties to senior Chinese officials. He disappeared in March after writing an essay criticizing Xi Jinping's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ren was later charged with corruption-related offenses.

A Beijing court found Ren guilty of multiple charges including embezzlement of public funds totaling 110.6 million yuan, bribes, and abuse of power that cost the state 116.7 million yuan. Therefore, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison with a fine of 4.2 million yuan.

The court said Ren voluntarily confessed to all of his crimes and was willing to accept the court's verdict once all illegal benefits were found. China's court system has a penalty rate of around 99 percent, according to legal observers. Corruption charges were often used to pursue Communist Party insiders who violated the leadership.

Ren believes the punishments appear deliberately designed to bully the rest of China's elite that there is no mercy on any criticism that leads to defiance against Xi Jinping. China is now continuing to deal with the effects of the pandemic and is facing intense international pressure from the United States and others.

Born into the ruling elite of the Communist Party, Ren apparently felt no longer afraid when criticizing Chinese politics. His criticism far exceeds the limits allowed in an authoritarian state.

Because of his frequent criticism, the 69-year-old has been nicknamed "The Cannon" on Chinese social media. In his article published in March, for example, he bluntly condemned the Communist Party's actions against press freedom and the intolerance of dissent. Although the essay does not mention Xi Jinping by name, it does imply that the country's supreme leader is a power-hungry 'clown'.

"I don't see an emperor standing there showing off his 'new clothes', but a clown taking off his clothes and insisting on continuing to be an emperor," Ren said in response to Xi Jinping's speech to 170,000 officials across the country at a mass videoconference of the steps. pandemic control.

Ren's next article accused the Communist Party of placing its own interests ahead of the safety of the Chinese people, to secure its rule. "Without a media that represents the interests of the people by publishing actual facts, people's lives are damaged by viruses and major system diseases," wrote Ren.

After the article was published, Ren disappeared. Her relatives fear she will be detained. Authorities confirmed that Ren was being investigated on corruption-related charges in early April and expelled longtime members of the Communist Party in July, paving the way for criminal prosecution.

Ren did not completely contradict the Chinese government by speaking his mind. In 2016, he was disciplined after questioning Xi Jinping's demands that Chinese state media remain fully loyal to the Communist Party. Ren was on trial for one year for his party membership and his hugely popular Weibo account was shut down.

This time, however, there seemed to be no second chance for Ren. If he served his full sentence, he would be in his late 80's by the time he was released.