Editor's Note

Bo Xilai, former secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a former member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Sunday for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

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Life in jail for Bo Xilai
Former senior official Bo Xilai was sentenced to life in prison on Sunday after being found guilty on all three charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power by a court in Jinan, East China's Shandong Province.

Bo verdict shows power of law is real
Yesterday, Jinan Intermediate People's court in East China's Shandong Province, handed down a verdict in the widely tracked trial of Bo Xilai.

Bo Xilai gets life in prison
Bo Xilai, former secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a former member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Sunday for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

Bo accepts bribes worth 20.44 million yuan: verdict
Bo Xilai has been found guilty of accepting bribes worth 20.44 million yuan (about $3.3 million), according to the verdict announced Sunday by the Jinan Intermediate People's Court.

Prosecutors demand heavy penalty for Bo
A heavy sentence in line with the law should be handed down to Bo Xilai, as he committed "very serious crimes" and refused to plead guilty, said prosecutors as the five-day trial of the former Chongqing Party chief ended Monday in the eastern city of Jinan.

Bo denies abuse of power
Prosecutors concluded Sunday that former senior official Bo Xilai continued to deny charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power as he stood trial for the fourth day in the Jinan Intermediate People's Court.

Court investigation on Bo's case completed, trial to continue on Monday
The Jinan Intermediate People's Court announced that the trial of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power involving Bo Xilai adjourned on Sunday morning and will resume on Monday.

Daily Proceedings

August 22
Prosecutors: Prosecutors said Bo accepted bribes worth about 21.79 million yuan (about $3.5 million) from businessmen Tang Xiaolin and Xu Ming and embezzled five million yuan of public funds from the Dalian government. He was also accused of abusing power when dealing with his wife Bogu Kailai's murder and associate Wang Lijun's defection in 2012.	Bo:  Bo made a statement denying the charge of bribery.
August 23
Prosecutors: Prosecutors presented evidence that Bo accepted a large sum of money and property from Xu Ming through Bogu Kailai and his son, Bo Guagua. In the afternoon session, evidence showing that through his wife and son, Bo received almost 4.43 million yuan from Xu Ming, to pay for international and domestic air tickets, accommodation and traveling expenses, paying off credit card debt, and buying a Segway scooter. The former police chief of Chongqing, Wang Lijun, said in his testimony that there was a purchase of a French villa by Bo’s family.	Bo: Confronted with the charges, Bo said that the evidence was irrelevant, saying he had only a vague impression of amounts and no one had told him exactly how much money was being spent. Bo contended Bogu Kailai’s testimony could not be trusted as it was made under pressure while she was mentally unsound. He has asked the court to examine her mental state. Bo rejected Wang’s testimony, saying it was nonsense.
August 24
Prosecutors: During the trial on Saturday morning, prosecutors continued to accuse Bo of embezzling 5 million yuan ($817,000) of project funds as Wang Zhenggang, then director of the Dalian municipal bureau of urban and rural planning and land, gave testimony in court. The court investigation on Saturday afternoon focused on the charge of Bo's abuse of power. In January and February of 2012, while serving as secretary of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, Bo abused his power when it was reported that Bogu was suspected of intentional homicide, and when Wang Lijun defected, the indictment said.	Bo: Bo claimed he did not intend to embezzle the funds, but said he should bear some responsibility for not having closely questioned the remitting of money to Bogu's account. Bo said he took an "indulgent" attitude to the issue. Facing examinations by prosecutors, Bo frequently said, "[I] cannot remember clearly. Procurators' investigation and verifications have final say."
August 25
Prosecutors: At Sunday's trial, prosecutors presented more evidence on the charge of power abuse against Bo, which showed that Bo ordered the investigation on officials in charge of handling Bogu's intentional homicide case and violated organizational procedures to remove Wang from his post as head of the Chongqing municipal police. The evidence also showed that Bo allowed his wife, who was not a civil servant, to take part in discussions about how to handle Wang's defection, and sanctioned her suggestion to ask a hospital to fake a diagnosis that Wang had mental illness as well as the release of such false information to the public.	Bo: Bo admitted that he made mistakes in handling these incidents but insisted that he was not involved in any conducts of power abuse and the responsibilities were all on his wife and a third participant surnamed Wu.
August 26
Prosecutors: During Monday's trial, prosecutors reaffirmed that they have presented enough evidence to prove that Bo took more than 21.8 million yuan ($3.56 million) in bribes from two businessmen and embezzled 5 million yuan of public funds in Dalian and abused his power during the investigation of his wife Bogu Kailai's homicide of British citizen Neil Heywood.	Bo: Bo said he should take part of the responsibility for his wife Bogu Kailai receiving money and property, but denied the charges of bribery and embezzlement. Bo also denied the charge of abusing his power, on which he allegedly stopped his wife's homicide investigation and unlawfully removed former Chongqing police chief Wang from his position, leading to Wang's defection to a US consulate.

Source: Global Times

Highlights:

Bo claimed that Wang had secretly been in love with Bogu Kailai. He said Wang was aware that he had invaded Bo's family life and hurt his feelings, and that was the reason why Wang decided to defect.
 Bo's final remarks: "In prison, my medical treatment and nutrition is good, it shows the kind nature of Shandong people, they didn't pour water on a drowning man. I hereby again express my gratitude." 
 Bo mentioned his elder son  Li Wangzhi twice in the trial. Bo said that Gu made an effort to alienate him from his elder son in his statement.
 Bo made a  90-minute-long statement defending himself after the prosecutors delivered a summary prosecuting statement on Monday morning. 

Source: Agencies

Web of Connections

Courtroom Details

Source: Agencies

Photos

More:
Bo Xilai trial in pictures
Bo Xilai to stand open trial at Jinan Intermediate People's Court
Bo Xilai stands trial for bribery, embezzlement, abuse of power

Viewpoints

Voices:

Jinan Intermediate People’s Court:
Bo remained calm during the trial and is in good health. We will hold briefings twice a day and post timely updates on our official Weibo account during the trial.

Spectators:

Liu Weizhong, 48, Jinan resident
I’ve had no previous experience with courtroom proceedings before, but after witnessing the trial this morning, I learned how solemn a courtroom can be. Both the prosecutors and defense conducted themselves very professionally. Bo and his counsel were granted enough time to state their case, which gives me the feeling this trial is fair and just.

Lin Bo, an employee at a Jinan company
I thought Bo was an official who served the people and was not corrupt. But after hearing the prosecutor’s case, I think there was no limit to the bribery he would have taken. I think most of his testimony was chicanery. When it comes to answering crucial questions, he would always say, “I can’t remember”, “I don’t know about that”, “It has nothing to do with me”, or “I was forced to confess against my will”.

Jin Xindian, a Jinan community official
After attending the trial, I think that everyone is seen equally in the eyes of the law, no matter how powerful you were. Anyone who violates the laws will be punished.

Lawyers:

Li Zhuang, a former lawyer and a famous critic of Bo
Bo was telling this side story as a strategy to lower the credibility of Bogu Kailai and Wang, as both Wang and Bo's wife provided testimony to prove accusations against Bo.  Li added the prosecutors could also have charged Bo with covering for a criminal. Bo said he did not believe his wife was a murderer, and said he removed Wang from his position because of Wang's bad personality and past record.

Qin Qianhong, a professor of constitution law with Wuhan University
said that the attention on this open case is unprecedented, which provided a good lesson for many to get a closer look at China's court system that some used to lack confidence in. "Bo fully expressed himself at the court, getting rid of many people's previous hypothetical guesses that the defendant was on the weak side and had no right to defend himself," Qin said.

More lawyer comments>>>
Xie Youping, a law professor with Fudan University, commented on his Weibo page
Duan Wanjin, a Shaanxi-based criminal lawyer

Media comments:
Combating corruption with legal mind: Xinhua
Legal process of Bo trial will dispel doubts: GT Editorial
Weibo show brings public confidence: GT Editorial
Microblogging Bo's trial hailed as historic transparency: Xinhua
Bo indictment shows CPC's stance on corruption: People's Daily
Bo's case shows China's anti-corruption consensus: Xinhua
Bo’s trial milestone in building rule of law: GT Commetary

Indictment

●Took advantage of his official position to seek gains for others

●Accepted large bribes of money and property, according to the indictment

●Embezzled large amounts of public funds and abused his power, which brought serious harm to the interests of the State and Chinese citizens

Source: Xinhua

Background

Bo Xilai, male, ethnic Han, native of Dingxiang, Shanxi Province, born in July 1949. Joined the CPC in October 1980 and began working in January 1968. Graduated from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, majoring in international journalism. Master of Arts.

In September, 2012, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided to expel Bo from the CPC and his public office. The bureau also decided to transfer Bo's suspected law violations and relevant evidence to judicial organs.

Bo had also served as mayor of Dalian, governor of Liaoning Province and minister of commerce.

For more>>

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News Vocab

公开开庭审理 gōngkāi kāitíng shěnlǐ

“公开” adj. open; public; overt（Source: 《新世纪汉英大词典》）

“开庭” v. open a court session（Source: 《新世纪汉英大词典》）

“审理” v. hear; try（Source: 《新世纪汉英大词典》）

“公开开庭审理” n. in open court; open trial


无期徒刑  wúqī-túxíng

“无期” n. life term

“徒刑” n. imprisonment; prison sentence/term（Source: 《新世纪汉英大词典》）

“无期徒刑” n. life imprisonment（Source: 《新世纪汉英大词典》）

Example:

根据我国刑法，被告人薄熙来一审被判处无期徒刑，剥夺政治权利终身，并处没收个人全部财产。 （Source: 新疆网）
Defendant Bo Xilai was sentenced to life in prison, deprived of political rights for life and his personal assets confiscated in accordance with China's Criminal Law.


Webeditor: guwei@globaltimes.com.cn