Gu Kailai, wife of Chongqing's former Party chief Bo Xilai, and Zhang Xiaojun, an orderly at their home, have been prosecuted on charges of intentional homicide that caused the death of British citizen Neil Heywood, Xinhua reported on Thursday.

They were prosecuted by the municipal People's Procuratorate in Hefei, Anhui Province recently, and the Intermediate People's Court of Hefei will try the case, according to Xinhua.

Gu and her son had conflicts with Heywood over economic interests, and Gu believed that Heywood threatened her son's safety, and conspired with Zhang to poison and kill the Briton, according to the indictment.

The prosecuting body informed the two criminal suspects and the family members of the victim of their litigation rights during the investigation period, and also interrogated the two suspects and heard the opinions of the defense team, according to Xinhua.

Heywood was found dead in a hotel in Chongqing on November 15, 2011. His murder was exposed in February after Wang Lijun, former police chief and deputy mayor of Chongqing, entered the US consulate in Chengdu without authorization. Wang later left of his own volition.

Wang was removed from office in March, and was stripped in June of his title of deputy to the National People's Congress, the national legislature.

The incident prompted central authorities to order an investigation.

Bo Xilai, 63, became Party Secretary of Chongqing in 2007. Also a member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and the CPC Central Committee, Bo was removed from all posts earlier this year, suspected of being involved in "serious disciplinary violations."

Bo launched several high-profile campaigns to crack down on organized crime in the southwestern city and promote revolutionary or "red" songs among its residents.

By December 2010, Chongqing authorities had dismantled over 370 gang-related criminal groups and arrested over 5,700 people, according to the Chongqing public security bureau.

However, questions were raised among some lawyers and scholars, who suspect the campaign might have been carried out too hastily in some cases.

Vice premier Zhang Dejiang replaced Bo to become Chongqing's top official in March.

At a meeting of the CPC Chongqing Committee, newly-appointed mayor Zhang told officials to strictly separate Chongqing's achievements over the past five years and the painstaking efforts of local officials and residents from the Bo and Wang cases.

The official noted that the string of incidents has "greatly tarnished the image of the Party and the nation and have had a grave impact on Chongqing's reform and development."

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Gu's trial will test principle of rule of law

Gu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun, an employee of Gu's, have been charged with homicide by the Hefei Municipal Procuratorate in Anhui Province, Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday.