Bo Xilai stands trial for bribery, embezzlement, abuse of power
The trial of Bo Xilai, former Communist Party of China (CPC) chief of Chongqing Municipal Committee, opened Thursday morning at Jinan Intermediate People's Court in east China's Shandong Province.
Bo, 64, faces charges of taking bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power.
According to the indictment, from 1999 to 2012, Bo was asked by Tang Xiaolin, general manager of Dalian International Development Co. Ltd, and Xu Ming, chairman of Dalian Shide Group Co. Ltd, to provide help for related parties and individuals to obtain preferential quotas to import cars and work on petrochemical projects, and Bo took advantage of his posts as mayor of Dalian, secretary of CPC Dalian committee, governor of Liaoning Province and Minister of Commerce in doing so.
In return, Bo accepted bribes worth about 21.8 million yuan (about 3.5 million U.S. dollars) from Tang and Xu directly, or through his wife Bogu Kailai and his son Bo Guagua. "The amount was especially huge," the indictment said.
In 2002, while serving as governor of Liaoning Province, Bo used his post to conspire with others to embezzle five million yuan of public funds from the Dalian government.
"The sum was huge," said the indictment.
In January and February of 2012, while serving as secretary of CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, Bo abused his power when it was reported that Bogu Kailai was suspected of intentional homicide, and when then vice mayor of Chongqing Wang Lijun defected, the indictment said.
Further abuses of power include impeding the reinvestigation of Bogu Kailai's case and approving the release of false news that Wang was receiving "vocation-style treatment."
Bo's actions caused delays to the reinvestigation and led to Wang's defection. His behavior has had a severe social impact and damaged both the country and people's interests. Bo shall bear criminal responsibility for taking bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power, said the indictment.
Bo denied the charge of bribe-taking during the court hearing which was attended by more than 100 people, including Bo's five relatives and 19 journalists.
One of the key witnesses Xu Ming was summoned and gave testimony in court during the afternoon's hearing. Prosecutors and defense lawyers questioned and cross-examined both the accused and witness.
Prosecutors presented documentary evidence and testimony of Bo's wife, including those to prove that Bo was aware of his wife taking Xu's money to buy a villa in Nice, France.
The court approved all applications by Bo, who was emotionally stable and physically healthy during the trial, to express his views.
According to Liu Yanjie, spokesman of the court who briefed the press both in the morning and afternoon, Xu attended the trial for about one hour and a half.
Liu said that the prosecutors, Bo and his attorney raised a number of questions to Xu. Bo and his attorney repeated questions over certain details to the witness.
"The presiding judge gave both sides enough time to raise questions to each other and the witness which effectively guaranteed the defendant and his attorney's procedural rights," the spokesman said.
The presiding judge announced an adjournment at about 6 p.m.. The hearing will continue on Friday.
The trial, which opened at 8:43 a.m., lasted for more than three hours in the morning and nearly four hours in the afternoon, according to the spokesman.
During the trial, the official microblog account of the court provided a real-time broadcast of proceedings in text on www.weibo.com.
According to the spokesman, before Thursday's trial, the court delivered a copy of the indictment in a timely manner to Bo and informed him of and guaranteed his litigation rights.
The two defense attorneys entrusted by Bo met him several times before the trial and had access to the entire file of the case, Liu said.
Bo was removed from the Party chief post of Chongqing in March 2012, and later removed from all positions and expelled from the CPC due to being suspected of serious violation of Party discipline.
The investigation of Bo's case was transferred to judicial organs in July and Jinan People's Procuratorate instituted a public prosecution.
