Wu Xiaoqing, a former senior judge accused of accepting bribes in a crackdown on organized crime in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing, hanged himself while being held in detention, state media reported. Wu was the former director of the enforcement bureau of the municipal higher people’s court and president of a local court. He was arrested in June this year on suspicion of taking over US$500,000 in bribes between 1998 and 2008. Separately, gang leader Chen Ming was executed last week after being convicted of spearheading a crime syndicate that killed one person and hospitalized eight others over the past several years. Chen was sentenced to death in 2008. At least 50 other people, including members of the police and judiciary, have been arrested "on suspicion of power abuse, including allegations of corruption, malfeasance and infringing people’s rights," said a spokesman for the municipal procuratorate. On Friday, the Chongqing Municipal People’s Congress removed four deputies alleged to have been involved in organized crime. The four include the municipality’s former deputy public security chief, and the former head of the city’s traffic police. So far, up to 700 people have been arrested this year in connection with gang-related crimes in Chongqing.
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