HEFEI, China — A Chinese court will deliver its verdict Monday against Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced politician Bo Xilai, on charges of killing a British businessman last year in a scandal that has shaken the Communist Party’s transition to new leadership.
When a court in the eastern city of Hefei announces its verdict at a hearing starting at 9 a.m. local time, Gu could receive the death penalty, as could a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, who was also tried for the murder.
But many lawyers have said that Gu is likely to receive a long prison term, because official accounts of the case have highlighted her claim that she was trying to protect her son.
At her Aug. 9 trial, Gu admitted to poisoning the businessman, Neil Heywood, and said that an economic dispute between them led him to threaten her son, Bo Guagua, according to official accounts published by state media. Zhang, the aide, has not disputed the murder charge, but his lawyer said he was only an accomplice to Gu.
Gu’s trial is probably a prelude to formal punishment of Bo Xilai, a brashly ambitious politician under investigation for alleged violations of party discipline — an accusation that covers corruption, abuse of power and other misdeeds. After the party leadership decides on those allegations, Bo also could face criminal charges related to the murder case.
“I don’t think it’s likely that Gu will receive the death penalty,” said He Weifang, a professor of law at Peking University who has followed the case closely. “I think Bo Xilai will also face a criminal trial.”
Bo’s hopes for securing a spot in China’s top leadership unraveled after his former police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to a U.S. consulate in early February for about 24 hours and exposed the murder allegations.
Legal experts and Bo’s supporters have questioned the official version of events outlined in court statements and a detailed report by the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
“The story spun about a mother sacrificing herself for her own can hardly deceive anyone,” Hu Shuli, editor in chief of Caixin Media, wrote in an editorial last week.
Bo, the son of a revolutionary, ran the southwestern city of Chongqing where Heywood was killed in November. Bo was seen as competing for a place in the Politburo Standing Committee, the body at the pinnacle of power in China, during a once-a-decade leadership transition this year.
His downfall has stirred more division than that of any other leader for more than 30 years. To leftist supporters, Bo was a charismatic rallying figure for efforts to reimpose party control over dizzying, unequal market growth.
But he made powerful enemies among those who saw him as an opportunist who wanted to impose his policies on the country.
Bo was sacked as Chongqing boss in March, and Gu was publicly accused of the murder in April, when Bo was suspended from the Politburo, a 25-member elite council that ranks below the Standing Committee. He has yet to be expelled from that council.
Four Chinese police officers have been charged with trying to protect Gu from investigation — a development that could also prove dangerous for Bo. He has not been seen in public since March, when he gave a combative defense of his policies at a news conference during China’s annual parliament session.
— Reuters
When a court in the eastern city of Hefei announces its verdict at a hearing starting at 9 a.m. local time, Gu could receive the death penalty, as could a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, who was also tried for the murder.
But many lawyers have said that Gu is likely to receive a long prison term, because official accounts of the case have highlighted her claim that she was trying to protect her son.
At her Aug. 9 trial, Gu admitted to poisoning the businessman, Neil Heywood, and said that an economic dispute between them led him to threaten her son, Bo Guagua, according to official accounts published by state media. Zhang, the aide, has not disputed the murder charge, but his lawyer said he was only an accomplice to Gu.
Gu’s trial is probably a prelude to formal punishment of Bo Xilai, a brashly ambitious politician under investigation for alleged violations of party discipline — an accusation that covers corruption, abuse of power and other misdeeds. After the party leadership decides on those allegations, Bo also could face criminal charges related to the murder case.
“I don’t think it’s likely that Gu will receive the death penalty,” said He Weifang, a professor of law at Peking University who has followed the case closely. “I think Bo Xilai will also face a criminal trial.”
Bo’s hopes for securing a spot in China’s top leadership unraveled after his former police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to a U.S. consulate in early February for about 24 hours and exposed the murder allegations.
Legal experts and Bo’s supporters have questioned the official version of events outlined in court statements and a detailed report by the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
“The story spun about a mother sacrificing herself for her own can hardly deceive anyone,” Hu Shuli, editor in chief of Caixin Media, wrote in an editorial last week.
Bo, the son of a revolutionary, ran the southwestern city of Chongqing where Heywood was killed in November. Bo was seen as competing for a place in the Politburo Standing Committee, the body at the pinnacle of power in China, during a once-a-decade leadership transition this year.
His downfall has stirred more division than that of any other leader for more than 30 years. To leftist supporters, Bo was a charismatic rallying figure for efforts to reimpose party control over dizzying, unequal market growth.
But he made powerful enemies among those who saw him as an opportunist who wanted to impose his policies on the country.
Bo was sacked as Chongqing boss in March, and Gu was publicly accused of the murder in April, when Bo was suspended from the Politburo, a 25-member elite council that ranks below the Standing Committee. He has yet to be expelled from that council.
Four Chinese police officers have been charged with trying to protect Gu from investigation — a development that could also prove dangerous for Bo. He has not been seen in public since March, when he gave a combative defense of his policies at a news conference during China’s annual parliament session.
— Reuters