Wang Lijun, the former vice mayor and police chief of Chongqing, will be tried publicly for defection, abuse of power, violating the law for personal favor and accepting bribes at the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court in Sichuan Province Tuesday, the court told the Global Times on Friday.

Earlier this month the Xinhua News Agency reported Wang had been charged for these crimes by the Chengdu People's Procuratorate.

The case will be heard at the court since Tuesday morning, a staffer from the court surnamed He told the Global Times on Friday. He declined to reveal how many observers would be permitted at the trial.

The timing of the trial means a verdict in Wang's case will be handed down before the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October, noted Zhang Ming, a professor of political science at Renmin University of China. Wang Zhenyu, a researcher at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times that the fact a public trial has been permitted for such a sensitive case showed "progress" in the country's legal system. Both Wang Zhenyu and Zhang noted Wang Lijun is likely to face the death penalty with a reprieve or life imprisonment if found guilty, in line with the penalty handed down to Bogu Kailai, the wife of Chongqing's former Party chief, Bo Xilai.

Bogu Kailai was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for intentional homicide of British businessman Neil Heywood in 2011 by Hefei Intermediate People's Court last month.