Shandong , High Court rejects Bo Xilai appeal: life imprisonment confirmed
Beijing (
AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Shandong High Court has rejected the appeal filed
this morning by the former communist leader of Chongqing Bo Xilai and upheld
the life sentence handed down on September 22 by the intermediate provincial court.
The
charges remain the same: corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power. The appeal
hearing lasted around an hour. According
to the judges "the facts presented in the first instance are clear, cogent
and sufficient evidence, it is the appropriate judgment ."
Bo
fell out of favor last year due to a
scandal - according
to many orchestrated by his political opponents - which involved his right arm
man and his wife, both in turn condemned
for the murder of
British businessman Neil Heywood .
The trial has garnered major attention in China and worldwide. The Communist
Party, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, has used it as an example of its
commitment against corruption in national leadership , however , the government
committed against bribery also arrested activists and dissidents (Xu Zhiyong above all) asking public officials
to disclose their economic and commercial interests . According to the great
analyst Willy Lam, the trail against Bo is a farce that highlights the "thirst
for power" of the President Xi .
The
appeal did not have the same "opennes to the public" of the first
trial, during which a court official kept the outside world informed through a
live online update. According to Xinhua , the official government news agency, "the facts of the first instance
verdict are clear, the evidence is reliable, sufficient and the sentence is
appropriate."
Now
the former star of the Communist Party will be transferred to the Qincheng prison,
in the hills north of Beijing, where all the disgraced Communist leaders are
locked up. It
is a "five-star" prison with all the comforts: first class chefs,
single rooms, the ability to communicate with the outside world.
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07/01/2006
