Wang Lijun sentenced to 15 years. Now it may be Bo Xilai’s turn
Chengdu
(AsiaNews) - The former police chief of Chongqing - once the right arm of the
powerful party secretary Bo Xilai - was sentenced to 15 years in prison for
attempted defection to a U.S. consulate and other crimes such as "selfish
purposes" in ' use of the law, abuse of
power and corruption.
According
to the judges Wang cooperated with the investigation and for this, instead of
the death penalty has received only 15 years. Wang
thanked the court, apologized to the party and said he will not appeal.
Wang
Lijun was the closest collaborator of Bo Xilai, the brilliant "princeling"
of Chongqing, during Bo's "strike dark" campaign to clear the mega-district
of 35 million inhabitants of local mafias and corrupt Party members. Bo's
policies, a mixture of populism, statism and Maoist revival, was taking him to
the top of the party, a candidate for the Central Committee of the Politburo. The
murder of the British businessman Neil Heywood by Bo's wife Gu Kailai destroyed
the relationship between Bo and Wang. According
to the reconstruction published on Xinhua, Wang initially concealed the
evidence of the murder, then later revealed them to Bo, who, in response had
him reprimanded and beaten. Fearing
for his life, Wang fled to Chengdu, to seek asylum at the U.S. consulate, where
he revealed these facts. At
that point, the leadership could no longer feign ignorance and imprisoned Wang
and Gu Kailai, and forced Bo to resign from his position, thrusting one of the
most bitter scandals of the last 30 years into the public arena.
During
the trials of Gu, Wang and four police officers complicit in covering up the
evidence of the assassination, the name of Bo Xilai was never mentioned. Only
in the trial of Wang Lijun, was Bo quoted in an indirect way (""the then
official leader of the Communist Party of Chongqing ").
According
to several analysts, the caution used in the trial is a sign of the Party's
fear in revealing the level of corruption, violence and the struggle for power within
it's ranks, resulting in a huge loss of credibility, just as it is preparing to
celebrate the 18th
Congress and a change in leadership. At
the same time, the fact that at the end Bo was mentioned - albeit in an
indirect way - suggests that the "princeling" - the son of one of the
great party leaders- will be prosecuted. The
hypothesis is that, before the Congress, he will be expelled from the Party and
immediately sent to trial.
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26/07/2012
