Former head of China's drug watchdog executed

Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), was executed Tuesday morning with the approval of the Supreme People's Court.

Zheng, 63, was given death penalty by the Beijing Municipal No.1 Intermediate People's Court on May 29 on charges of taking bribes and dereliction of duty.

Zheng appealed for leniency in a second hearing of his case on June 12, asking the court to reconsider the sentence as "the penalty was too severe", and confessing the evidence of some crimes committed by others related to his case.

The Higher People's Court of Beijing rejected Zheng's appeal on June 22, and upheld the death sentence. The court said "the evidence provided by Zheng had been obtained by investigating prosecutors before his confession", and asked for review and approval of the Supreme People's Court.

Source: Xinhua