On October 29, 2024, the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Sun Zhigang to death for accepting more than 813 million yuan in bribes, with a two-year reprieve and life imprisonment.
On August 28, 2023, former Guizhou Provincial Party Secretary Sun Zhigang was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission for suspected serious violations of discipline and law, becoming the first former provincial-level Party secretary to fall after the 20th Party Congress.
On November 20, 2020, Guizhou Province held a meeting of leading cadres to announce the central government's decision that Shen Yiqin would serve as Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, and Sun Zhigang would no longer hold the post. Shen Yiqin became the only female provincial party secretary in the country at that time.