The National People’s Congress, China’s highest legislature body, is currently in session with its standing committee members busy themselves voting on new laws. Among the laws to be passed (and passed they almost certainly will be), one in particular attracted the attention of Southern Metropolis Daily, which makes it its top headline today: “Defected officials can be sentenced to a maximum of ten years in prison”.
Turns out that the ten years maximum is only for those whose defections are deemed to be not serious. As the inside report says: government employees who leave their posts without permission, defect to other countries or defect when they are abroad, may face prison terms from five years to ten years. Defectors who are in the position to divulge classified “national secrets” will be punished even more severely.
- Southern Metropolis Daily (Chinese): Producer of poisonous food and defected government officials may face severe punishment.