On September 14, Zhang Jian, the former president of the Anhui Provincial High Court, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 5 million yuan. After investigation, Zhang Jian used his position to facilitate the illegal acceptance of other people's property for a total of about 71.79 million yuan between 1995 and 2019, of which about 24.03 million yuan has not yet actually arrived.
The court held that Zhang Jian voluntarily confessed his crime after arriving at the case and actively returned the stolen money, and some of his bribery acts were attempted, and there were circumstances that could be mitigated, so the above judgment was made.
Zhang Jian said in court that he would admit guilt and accept punishment and would not appeal.
Zhang Jian was born in September 1955, began to work at the age of 15, worked as a young man in Jingmen, Hubei Province, and also worked as a statistician and a caretaker in a machine tool factory.
In 1975, Zhang Jian entered the Hubei police circle and slowly stepped from a small police station to the post of deputy director. After that, he also entered the Central Judicial Police Academy.
In 1994, Zhang Jian was transferred to the deputy director of the Hubei Prison Administration, and gradually lost himself in power and embarked on the road of illegal bribery.
In the past 14 years, Zhang Jian has held important positions in the judicial departments of Hubei and Anhui. During this period, he also studied law at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, and obtained a doctorate degree in management from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
According to the court notice, Zhang Jian's main time of accepting bribes was between 1995 and 2019, in other words, he was still accepting bribes from others after he retired in 2018.
At that time, Zhang Jian superficially created an image of a good judge who worked hard and served the people, but behind the scenes, he was frantically amassing wealth.
He was named a "Second-Class Justice of the People's Republic of China" in 2013. In 2017, after Zhang Jian was transferred to the Anhui Provincial High Court, he participated in the recording of the CCTV documentary "The Trial of the Chief Justice".
At that time, he said in the program that judges should not only judge cases, but also refract social issues through cases to achieve fairness and justice.
But in fact, Zhang Jian used the case for personal gain, but as a law enforcer, he violated the law and discipline and wantonly interfered in the law enforcement activities of the judicial department.
On August 25, 2019, nearly a year and a half after Zhang Jian retired, he left his signature and handprint on the case filing decision and the lien decision.
Five months later, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection published the news of Zhang Jian's expulsion from the party.
According to the circular, Zhang Jian took advantage of his position to help criminal personnel involved in criminal syndicates and evil forces to commute their sentences, release them on parole, retry, and change their sentences in violation of the law, thus undermining the fairness and credibility of the judiciary. In addition, he did not report personal matters according to the regulations, accepted banquets in violation of the law, accepted gifts, and did not honestly explain the problems when organizing correspondence.
Zhang Jian not only did not discipline his personal violations of discipline, but also connived at his relatives to use his influence for personal gain.
According to the "Honest Government Outlook," Zhang Jian likes to make friends with the media, takes great care of reporters, and knows how to use the influence of public opinion. Earlier, when he went to Beijing to attend the meeting, he specially ordered food for reporters on the high-speed rail train, and specially instructed his subordinates to organize more reporters to eat and improve their food. After the meeting, he also pushed aside other gatherings and specially dined with reporters to "contact" feelings.
According to people familiar with the matter, Zhang Jian usually likes to dance and ink, and also likes to collect calligraphy and paintings. When he took office and retired, he specialized in transporting his collection by truck. He once told the people around him that some of these calligraphy and paintings were found by him, and some of them were exchanged by himself. But no one believed it.
Some of the materials are synthesized from the websites of Xinhua News Agency, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission, and the Integrity Watch
Editor: Lin Yang