The following post from “Heaven and Earth 3511E” (天圆地方3511E) was deleted from Sina Weibo sometime before 7:46AM yesterday, March 16, 2015. The post shares the news from Netease, one of China’s largest internet portal sites, that Xu Caihou, the highest-ranking military official so far to be caught up in Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign, has died of bladder cancer and therefore will not face prosecution. The post was live for around 35 minutes before being removed by censors. (Many of today’s deleted posts deal with Xu Caihou’s death and the corruption investigation against him, including this post, and this one.) [Explore more deleted posts by using the Weiboscope, created by the Journalism & Media Studies Centre.]

Hah hah . . . Responses and comments have been turned off at Netease (163.com)// “Owing to Xu Caihou’s death, according to Article 15 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Military Procuratorate has decided not to prosecute [the case against Xu], and the related bribery case will be handled according to the law.” Here is the news from Netease: “Xu Caihou Dies of Incurable Cancer of the Bladder” http://t.cn/RwkUFpO

The original Chinese-language post follows:

呵呵……网易的评论与跟贴已关闭。 //『由于徐才厚病亡， 根据 《中华人民共和国刑事诉讼法》 第十五条的规定， 军事检察院对徐才厚作出不起诉决定， 其涉嫌受贿犯罪所得依法处理』 分享网易新闻:「徐才厚因膀胱癌医治无效死亡」 http://t.cn/RwkUFpO