Chongqing Saga: Bo Xilai’s wife accepts murder charges
Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Gu Kailai, wife of former Communist Party leader of Chongqing, Bo Xilai, has admitted the murder of British entrepreneur Neil Heywood, found dead in a hotel in November 2011. The news was reported by Chinese state media, the only ones allowed inside the courtroom.
At her trial, which began on August 9, the woman justified the act with a
"nervous breakdown" due to threats she claimed the British
businessman made against her son. During
the hearing Gu Kailai said that she would accept any verdict of the court. In
the session details emerged about the involvement of Wang Lijun, chief of
police in Chongqing.
He
had helped Gu plan Heywood's murder. His four deputies, also on trial, are
charged with helping him cover up the case.
"Last
November - Gu allegedly confessed - I had a mental breakdown after discovering
that my son Bo Guagu was in danger." According
to a reconstruction he young man had had a dispute with Heywood over money
matters. "I
am the cause of this tragedy - said the woman - which unfortunately which not
only involved Neil, but other families. The case has had serious consequences
for the Communist Party throughout the country. For my part I will accept and
calmly face any sentence and... court decision. " During
the hearing, Gu's lawyers did not contest the version that accuses Bo Xilai's
wife of having poisoned Heywood with cyanide. The
version recounted in court states that last November Gu Kailai visited Heywood at the Nanshan Lijing
Holiday Hotel and drank alcohol and tea with him. After getting drunk and
vomiting, Heywood asked for a glass of water. Gu brought it to him, but it was
a poison supplied by her butler, Zhang Xiaojun. Yesterday,
court officer Tang Yigan of 'Hefei eastern China, told
reporters that the court's verdict will be announced in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile,
the four police officers accused of having hidden Gu Kailai's murder of Neil
Heywood, did not contest the charges against them. The
first hearing began yesterday in Hefei in Anhui, the same city as Gu
Kailai's trial. They
are: Guo Weiguo, deputy chief of police in Chongqing, Li Yang, a former head of the criminal
investigation team and district officers Wang Zhi and Wang Pengfei.
Experts
note that during the trial of Gu Kailai none of the defendants mentioned the
name of Bo Xilai. Joseph
Cheng, professor of political science at City University of Hong Kong, believes
that the authorities have reached an agreement with the former leader of Chongqing. The
speed of the sessions and the great cooperation of the accused is also
surprising. Indeed,
to avoid involving prominent members of the Communist Party, the leadership is
believed to have given precise procedural orders with the objective of
concluding the embarrassing process before the change over in Chinese
leadership, which will take place in autumn during the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. "The
Gu trial - he continues - went so smoothly and according to the script... there
was no mention of corruption and Bo Xilai's name wasn't mentioned."
The
suspected murder of Neil Heywood emerged in February. In
March, the Bo Xilai case exploded into a serious crisis that has threatened the
Chinese Communist Party. His
fall is one of the most spectacular political dramas in China since
Tiananmen. Mere
weeks before his removal, on
March 15, he was seen as a successful man, destined to join the Politburo
Standing Committee. His
populist campaign to revive Maoism, re-distributing wealth to the poor, was
shared by several fringes of the party, including several "princes" such
as Xi Jinping, the heir to President Hu Jintao. In
his attempt to "clean Chongqing"
of triads and mafia, he used illegal methods and also arrested hundreds of
party members.
The
façade of Maoist populism did not stop Bo and his family, however, from amassing
enormous wealth at home and abroad. According
to rumors, it was his very threat of publically revealing the real proportions
of this wealth that sealed Heywood's fate, hitherto regarded as "an old
family friend."
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