Bo Xilai’s wife risks the death penalty (or maybe just a few years in prison)
Beijing
(AsiaNews) - The semi-official announcement - given by Xinhua - that Kailai Gu, the wife of Bo Xilai, former leader of Chongqing, was accused of
murder, despite being one of the most important news item for decades, was
welcomed by newspapers
with great caution and restraint. Almost
all the Chinese newspapers covered the story by simply re-publishing the Xinhua
announcement which states that Kailai Gu and her butler Xiaojun Zhang killed
the businessman Neil Heywood, without any commentary or editorial. On
Sina Weibo, the China's own Facebook, the comments of Gu Kailai are
obscured.
Within
the space of a few months, Bo Xilai, a once powerful party secretary in one of
the richest areas of the country and future member of the Politburo Standing
Committee, was removed, put under investigation and may be expelled from the
Party. His
wife, a modern and cultivated woman, a prominent lawyer who according to her
husband abandoned her legal career to devote herself to the family and be a
housewife, is now accused of a crime that could carry the death sentence.
The
defeat of Bo and his family sounds like a soap opera to rival
"Dynasty", with intrigues, jealousies, desperate escapes and even a
death. But
the caution the media shows around Bo & Company reveals a lot more. In
recent months, since his fall from secretary of Chongqing, it has been said that Bo has been
able to forge an alliance with the army and leadership, so much as to fear a
coup.
Bo
Xilai is the typical representative of the party of "princes": the children of high profile party leaders who
had access to studies abroad, enabling them to get their hands on the Chinese
economy and enrich themselves, enjoying the protection of the name family.
The
party of the "princes" is strong and will fight with all its strength
to hold tight to the privileges it has bought and maintain carte blanche in
business and corruption.
Since
Bo's disgrace, it has been discovered that his family owned (and still own) a
business empire in China,
Hong Kong, the Caribbean. The
same thing has emerged a few months ago of Xi Jinping, the likely successor to
President Hu Jintao. Bloomberg,
after revealing the wealth of his family, was censored in China.
Some
say that the Kailai Gu trial is a warning to the "princes" to become
more sober and Confucian-like. The
English edition of the Global Times tied
to the People's Daily, dared to say
today that the trial "will help build public confidence in China's legal framework... [It] has sent a message to society that nobody,
regardless of his or her status and power, can be exempt from punishment if he
or she behaves unscrupulously, especially if he harms another person's life. "
In
fact, according to statements of the same Hu Jintao, the Chinese justice is
always "at the service of the Party." In
this case this means that the fight against Bo and his family is first sign of
an internal struggle between factions for control of the Politburo. And
then that again in this case, that the party will even save its members who have
fallen into disgrace.
Legal
experts point out that the indictment against Gu Kailai has already cited
extenuating circumstance: the fact that she was concerned about her son's
safety. Mo
Shaoping, an activist lawyer in Beijing
says that the court will show some leniency toward murderers if they or their
family were threatened or endangered.
In
addition, Xinhua also quoted the Butler as a defendant,
but does not say who was the perpetrator of the killing. It
may be "discovered" that the perpetrator was Zhang Xiaojun, who will
be handed down the death penalty, while Gu Kailai may get off with only a few
years in prison.
In
the recent past, the Chinese have already seen several cases against members of
the party ending with a death sentence that is never executed.
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