China Ex-Security Chief Zhou Yongkang Charged (Photo)

On of the most powerful men in China, former security chief  Zhou Yongkang has been charged with bribery, abuse of power and the intentional disclosure of state secrets, state media report.

Before he retired in 2012, Mr Zhou was the head of China's vast internal security apparatus.
But an investigation into him was announced in July 2014 and he has since been expelled from the Communist Party.

He is the most senior official to be targeted in decades.



Mr Zhou's case had been sent to a court in Tianjin, a northern port city, Xinhua news agency reported.
The head of China's top court said last month he would have an "open trial", though no date has been announced.

The former security tsar, who is in his 70s, was one of the most powerful men in China.

He was previously one of nine members of China's top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee. It has since shrunk to seven members.

But Mr Zhou has not been seen in public since late 2013, when rumours that he was being investigated began to swirl.

A number of his former associates from his time both in the oil industry and as Communist Party chief in Sichuan province are already being investigated or prosecuted as part of President Xi Jinping's corruption crackdown.

His former protege, former Chongqing Communist Party chief and high-flyer Bo Xilai, is currently in prison on charges linked to his wife's murder of a UK businessman.

Analysts say the investigation into Mr Zhou allows Xi Jinping - who took office as president in March 2013 - to consolidate his power base, remove people opposed to his reforms and improve the image of the Communist Party.