BEIJING — In a case that drew the attention of millions of Internet users in China, two judges and an official of the Shanghai high court have been expelled from the Communist Party and dismissed from their jobs after being seen on video apparently consorting with prostitutes in nightclubs.
A disgruntled businessman compiled the videos from security cameras and footage he shot while trailing the judges. He then posted the videos in retaliation for what he considered unfair rulings in a suit.
The videos circulated for five days before a disciplinary committee for the Communist Party announced the dismissals Tuesday. According to one estimate, 4.3 million people viewed the images on Youku, China’s version of YouTube.
The images, which show middle-age men accompanied by young women in hotel corridors and outside a nightclub, tapped into widespread anger at corruption and excessive spending by party officials.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, began an anticorruption campaign soon after taking power in November, and party officials have tamed lavish expenditures on banquets, liquor, and gifts. But there have been no arrests or demotions of senior officials formisconduct.
The bold disclosure by the businessman, Ni Peiguo, 55, touched a nerve because they showed the behavior at a time of mounting popular frustration with the court system.
The Shanghai Communist Party’s Discipline Inspection Committee said Tuesday that the judges and the court official were dismissed after they had “participated in prostitution.”
In all, four officials of the Shanghai judiciary were disciplined. Chen Xueming, chief judge of the No. 1 Civil Tribunal of Shanghai High People’s Court, and Zhao Minghua, a deputy chief judge, were dismissed from the party and their jobs. A member of the discipline committee of the high court, Ni Zhengwen, was also expelled from the party and his job. Wang Guojun, a deputy chief judge, was placed on two years’ probation.