A former high-level Chinese energy official accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes said this week that he was tortured into confessing to the crime, a Chinese news outlet reported. The former official, Xu Yongsheng, who was removed as deputy director of the National Energy Administration in 2014, went on trial this week at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court on charges of taking 5.61 million renminbi, or more than $850,000, from companies seeking approval for power plants. Read more
