JEREMY PAGE
The Wall Street Journal, Asia
August 09, 2012
The wife of ousted Communist Party official Bo Xilai went on trial on Thursday over the alleged murder of a British national, in what many observers see as the most politically significant trial in China in more than three decades.
The trial of Gu Kailai began at 8:30 a.m. local time, said Zhang Li, an official at the Hefei Intermediate Court in this eastern Chinese city. Ms. Zhang said its length will depend on the trial process, adding that all the seats at the hearing had been already taken.
Hundreds of uniformed and plain clothes police cordoned off the courthouse in driving rain in preparation for the trial of Ms. Gu, who is accused of murdering Neil Heywood. Vans saying “special police” with mounted cameras were parked on every corner.
Two British diplomats were ushered through a throng of reporters. One diplomat confirmed they were from the British Embassy and said “I think the court will issue a statement later” but declined further comment. A convoy of black cars with police escort pulled up at the back entrance shortly after.
Roads immediately surrounding the area were blocked off. Reporters were allowed up to the court perimeter, but the public was kept away.
Chinese media said last month that Ms. Gu—along with a household employee, family aide Zhang Xiaojun —were accused of poisoning Mr. Heywood in the belief that he threatened the personal safety of her son, Bo Guagua, following a “conflict of economic interests.”
The official media reports have given no details of the alleged economic dispute or the alleged threat to Mr. Bo’s safety, but further details are expected to emerge during the trial. The British diplomats were expected to attend because of Mr. Heywood’s nationality.
The trial is expected to last only one or two days, legal experts say, and to result in a guilty verdict.
On Wednesday, Bo Guagua, the Western-educated son of Mr. Bo and Ms. Gu, said he had submitted a witness statement to her defense team in his first public statement on the trial.
Bo Guagua said in an email to CNN that he submitted his testimony after he was mentioned as a “motivating factor” for the alleged murder of Mr. Heywood. But the younger Mr. Bo, who friends in recent weeks have said is living in the U.S., gave no details of his testimony as Chinese authorities made final preparations for what many observers see as the most politically significant trial in China in more than three decades.
In a separate email to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Bo Guagua confirmed that he had given a statement to CNN, but didn’t respond to further questions about the trial.
“As I was cited as a motivating factor for the crimes accused of my mother, I have already submitted my witness statement,” CNN quoted Bo Guagua as saying in his email to the network. “I hope that my mother will have the opportunity to review them.”
He added: “I have faith that facts will speak for themselves.”
Analysts say Mr. Bo’s testimony is unlikely to affect the verdict of a trial that has drawn comparisons with that of Jiang Qing, Chairman Mao Zedong’s widow, who was among those convicted in 1981 of masterminding the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
Ms. Gu is almost certain to be found guilty, according to lawyers and legal experts, given a conviction rate of about 98% in China, where the party controls the police, prosecutors and judges. But she could face a suspended death sentence, rather than capital punishment, based on the suggestion that she acted in her son’s defense, legal experts say.
The evidence presented in court could also give an indication of how the party leadership plans to handle the elder Mr. Bo, who was party chief of Chongqing—the top position in one of China’s largest cities—when Mr. Heywood was found dead in his hotel room there in November.
Chinese authorities said in April that Bo Xilai was dismissed from his party posts and placed under investigation for unspecified “serious disciplinary violations,” but they have yet to announce whether he, too, will face criminal charges. Party insiders say Mr. Bo is being held by an internal party watchdog.
One member of the public slipped through the exterior police cordon near the back entrance of the court and spoke briefly to reporters Thursday morning before being bundled away by police.
Hu Jiye, from Jiangsu province, expressed support for Mr. Bo and his policies in Chongqing. Broadly called the Chongqing model in China, Mr. Bo spearheaded massive public spending projects, greater state involvement in public life and other populist policies.
“We need a leader who can represent the interests of 99% of the common people,” he said.
“Bo Xilai is this person…. It’s ridiculous to use a criminal case to negate his development path,” he said.
“I think Gu Kailai is a victim of a political struggle. Why would Gu Kailai need to kill a foreigner?”
Uniformed police dragged him into a van, which drove him away.
The younger Mr. Bo, who graduated from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in May, didn’t say when, where or how he had submitted his witness statement. But friends have said in recent weeks that he has stayed in the U.S. partly due to fears that he too could face detention, or at least questioning, if he were to return to China in the midst of the scandal.
Bo Guagua, who previously studied at Harrow, an exclusive British private school, and the University of Oxford, hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.
But his role in the saga has been a matter of keen public interest in China as he is the most prominent young member of a group known collectively as “princelings” because of the privileges they enjoy as the descendants of Communist Party leaders.
He earned a controversial reputation in China a few years ago after photographs began circulating online of him attending parties while at Oxford. Questions were also raised among Chinese Internet users over how his family could afford such a prestigious education given his father’s low official salary.
Since Mr. Heywood’s death became public, there has been intense public scrutiny of his family’s relationship with the Briton, whom they got to know in the 1990s when he was living in the northeastern city of Dalian, where Mr. Bo was mayor at the time.
Several friends of Mr. Heywood—who also attended Harrow—have said that he helped to organize Bo Guagua’s education in Britain. The announcement of Ms. Gu’s indictment said that both she and her son were involved in the alleged “conflict of economic interests” with Mr. Heywood.But he hasn’t commented on his links to Mr. Heywood
In April, the younger Mr. Bo issued a statement to the Harvard Crimson newspaper that said he was “deeply concerned about the events surrounding my family.” He also defended his academic record and said his education was largely funded by his mother’s earnings as a lawyer and writer.
