07/27/2012, 00.00
CHINA
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Bo Xilai’s wife risks the death penalty (or maybe just a few years in prison)

by Wang Zhicheng
The newspapers report the news without commenting the indictment. Popular blogs are obscured. The newspaper close to People's Daily exalts "equal justice for all", but it is very likely that Gu Kailai escapes the death penalty.

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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See also
China: Bo Xilai’s wife pardoned, human rights lawyer jailed
15/12/2015
Bo Xilai expelled from the Party, wife suspected of murder
11/04/2012
Charges laid against Wang Lijun. Again, no mention of Bo Xilai
06/09/2012
“Trial of the century" begins (and ends) against Gu Kailai
09/08/2012
Chongqing saga: police and Wang Lijun on trial. Silence on Bo Xilai
10/08/2012


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