YINCHUAN, Dec. 31 -- A former county official from northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for accepting bribes, a local court said.

Fang Ren, 51, former Party secretary of Helan County, was found guilty of accepting bribes worth about 40 million yuan (6.5 million U.S. dollars) between 2005 and 2013, according to Zhongwei municipal intermediate people's court.

All of Fang's illegal gains were confiscated.

Fang said he accepted the court ruling and would not lodge an appeal at the court.