Bo Xilai declared guilty before trial begins
Staff Reporter 2013-08-21 16:03
Bo Xilai will go on trial at the Jinan Intermediate People's Court, pictured, on Aug. 22. (Photo/CNS)
Bo Xilai, the disgraced former party secretary of Chongqing, has effectively already been declared guilty of the crimes of accepting bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power, according to Duowei News, an outlet operated by overseas Chinese.
With Bo's trial set to take place on Thursday in Jinan in eastern China's Shandong province, the Jinan Intermediate People's Court on Aug. 18 declared Bo was involved in his wife Gu Kailai's murder of British businessman Neil Heywood in November 2011. According to an official statement released by the court, Bo is already considered a criminal rather than a suspect.
The state newswire Xinhua has criticized Bo Xilai for committing crimes which "cannot be forgiven by the laws" and said he must be punished accordingly. Another commentary published by Xinhua also declared that Bo Xilai's crimes of corruption, abuse of power and taking huge amounts in bribes is a truth that can never be denied.
Duowei said the purge of Bo Xilai is a way for Xi Jinping to solidify his power as the country's new president. A source told Duowei that Bo's true crime was to be a local party leader who tried to rebel against the central government. Through punishing Bo, Xi Jinping will be able to suppress other leaders who deviate from the party line, the source said.
No surprises in Bo Xilai's 'ironclad' show trial: Duowei
Staff Reporter 2013-08-21 12:56
Jinan Intermediate People's Court, where Bo Xilai's trial will begin on Aug. 22, 2013. (Photo/CFP)
Thursday's long-awaited Bo Xilai trial will offer little suspense as the prosecution will put forward a well-rehearsed ironclad case against the disgraced former Chongqing Communist Party chief, reports Duowei News, an outlet run by overseas Chinese.
The 64-year-old Bo, once seen as destined for China's top circle of power, will finally face charges of taking bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power at the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in east China's Shandong province on Aug. 22, ending nearly 18 months of speculation after he was taken into custody last March.
Bo's wife Gu Kailai has already been handed a suspended death sentence — typically commuted to life imprisonment after two years — for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, a crime for which Bo was accused of bearing "major responsibility." His ex-police chief Wang Lijun — the man who turned whistleblower against him and sparked his downfall by fleeing to the US consulate in Chengdu last February — is currently serving a 15-year sentence for crimes including the initial cover-up of Heywood's murder and his attempted defection.
As the courtroom is only open to China's state media, Taiwanese and Hong Kong reporters covering the trial have reported that it has been arranged for them to stay at a local hotel in Jinan, which will offer a live telecast of the trial as well as real-time microblog updates. It is not yet clear whether the broadcast will be available to the general public, though analysts say this is already a huge step up from the 1980 trial of Mao Zedong's fourth wife, Jiang Qing, which only provided five minutes of edited footage on the evening news on the day of the trial before offering more details the following day.
Given the domestic and international interest in the trial, said to be China's biggest in more than 20 years, analysts believe there will be absolutely no surprises in the courtroom on Thursday. It has been widely asserted that, in accordance with past trials involving corrupt officials, Bo's show trial will have been carefully planned and rehearsed for months to ensure that there are no unexpected developments.
The lawyer of Chen Liangyu, the ex-Shanghai party secretary sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in 2008 for corruption, claimed recently that the prosecution rehearsed for up to six months in preparation for Chen's trial.
Bo's supporters allege that preparations for his trial began shortly after March last year, when a so-called smear campaign against Bo got underway, with numerous negative reports about Bo's behavior that matched the "findings" of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's corruption watchdog, including that Bo had taken "massive bribes" and "had or maintained inappropriate sexual relationships with a number of women."
Gu was also painted in the media, particularly overseas, as a paranoid and controlling woman who demanded total obedience from those around her, while their son Bo Guagua was labeled a "playboy" with a penchant for fast cars who enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle on his parents' money in the UK and the US.
Bo's supporters now claim that threats against Bo Guagua's safety were used to coerce co-operation from Bo and Gu. In a statement released through the New York Times on Sunday, Bo Guagua also alluded to this possibility, saying, "if my well-being has been bartered for my father's acquiescence or my mother's further cooperation, then the verdict will clearly carry no moral weight."
