MCLC: Bo to be prosecuted

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Bo to be prosecuted
***********************************************************

Source: NYT (9/28/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/29/world/asia/bo-xilai-expelled-from-chinas-
communist-party.html

Ousted From Party in China, Bo Xilai Faces Prosecution
By EDWARD WONG 

BEIJING — Chinese leaders announced on Friday that Bo Xilai, a disgraced
Communist Party aristocrat, had been expelled from the party and would be
prosecuted on criminal charges, a move that effectively ends his
remarkable political career.

Mr. Bo is accused, among other things, of playing some role in the murder
of a British businessman by Mr. Bo’s wife and of taking “massive bribes”
directly and through his family, according to Xinhua, the state news
agency.

The Xinhua report also said the 18th Party Congress, an event climaxing
China's once-a-decade leadership transition, is scheduled to start on Nov.
8, a week after the start of a party planning session and two days after
the American presidential election.

The most watched part of the transition will be the announcement of who
will get seats on the Politburo Standing Committee, the elite body that
governs China by consensus and whose membership could be reduced to seven
from nine this year.

The two announcements ended months of speculation over two towering
issues: how the party would handle the most critical player in the one of
the biggest political scandals in decades; and when it would be ready to
install a wave of new leaders, including Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, the
men expected to become president and prime minister.

Political insiders said the decisions over how to move ahead on dealing
with Mr. Bo and the timing of the party congress were linked, because the
Bo issue had to be settled to a certain degree before the leadership
transition could take place.

The son of one of China’s revered revolutionary leaders, Mr. Bo, 63, the
former party chief of the southwest metropolis of Chongqing, was one of
the most powerful politicians in China and considered a contender for the
standing committee before investigators began looking early this year into
the killing of Neil Heywood, a British citizen.

Gu Kailai, Mr. Bo’s wife, was convicted last month of murdering Mr.
Heywood by poisoning and given a suspended death sentence, which means she
will likely serve a long prison term, possibly life.

The announcements came after a Politburo meeting here in Beijing on
Friday. A weeklong national holiday is to start in China on Sunday, and
many people had expected news on either Mr. Bo’s fate or the party
congress before then. Officials in Chongqing began getting word of the
move against Mr. Bo on Friday afternoon.

The Xinhua report had a long list of accusations against Mr. Bo. The most
serious appeared to be those relating to bribes and the Heywood murder,
though no specific information was given.

The report said he violated party discipline for many years, starting with
posts in the city of Dalian and Liaoning Province, continuing during a
stint as commerce minister, and extending through his four-year governance
of Chongqing, where he was known for a so-called anticorruption crackdown
and a revival of Mao-era patriotic songs through public singalongs.

The report also said investigators found Mr. Bo had “inappropriate sexual
relationships with multiple women,” without giving names. Ms. Gu was also
accused of taking bribes.

The public airing of such serious and sordid charges showed that party
leaders had reached agreement that Mr. Bo had to be dealt with severely.
Mr. Bo was a charismatic leader who, using his platform in Chongqing, had
espoused populist policies and gathered an ardent following, especially
among believers of a leftist revival where the state would impose economic
equality.

It is unclear when a criminal trial for Mr. Bo would begin. Mr. Bo has
been detained since March, when he was dismissed from his party chief
position. He was suspended from the Politburo the following month. The
state news media said Mr. Bo was under investigation for “serious
disciplinary violations.”

Li Zhuang, a lawyer who served an 18-month prison sentence in Chongqing
during Mr. Bo’s crackdown after being found guilty of suborning perjury,
welcomed the announcement of the accusations against Mr. Bo.

Mr. Li’s case inspired an outcry among Chinese liberals, who accused Mr.
Bo and police officers in Chongqing of taking aim at civilians who had
nothing to do with organized crime.

“This is great news, but also quite expected,” Mr. Li said in a telephone
interview. “This is how things should be.”

Mr. Li said he had been in Chongqing recently speaking with family members
of people convicted during the crackdown.

“Now that Bo has been expelled from the Communist Party,” he said,
“there’s more hope for them to get justice.”

Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting. Mia Li and Shi Da contributed
research.