Beijing: A Chinese police chief, whose defection to US Consulate sparked biggest political scandal here, was on Monday sentenced to 15 years in jail, paving the way for the prosecution of fallen politician Bo Xilai, ahead of a generational power transfer in the ruling Communist party.
The Intermediate People’s Court in southwest China’s Sichuan province convicted Bo’s right-hand man Wang Lijun, 52, the former vice mayor and police chief of Chongqing city for misuse of power, defection and corruption and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.
The court also cancelled his political rights for an year, but gave him a lighter sentence than the 20 years proposed by the prosecution in view of his exposing the involvement of Gu Kailai, wife of disgraced Communist Party leader Bo, in the murder of British businessman, Neil Heywood.
Wang sought asylum in the US consulate in Chengdu in February, triggering a political crisis that saw Bo sacked and his wife charged with murder ahead of a transfer of power to a new generation of leaders in China’s ruling Communist Party. The scandal, the messiest, faced by the Communist party leadership triggered an intense jostling in the party, ruling the world’s most populous nation since 1949. The case ended the career of senior Communist Party leader Bo Xilai, who was in the running for top position in the nine-member standing committee of the central committee of the CPC. It was not immediately clear if Bo who was named by Wang in his deposition would be hauled up.
In his testimony, Wang implicated Bo alleging that the Party leader had rebuked and slapped him over the probe into Gu’s case. But an official account of the trial did not identify Bo by name and merely suggested that he knew his wife was suspected for the murder of British businessman in November 2011, but took no action. This offence under the Chinese law carries punishment of 10 years in prison.
Bo was regarded as a hardliner and proponent of revival of Maoist ideology discarded long ago by the CPC. He himself is expected to go on trial in the coming days for misusing his power. It is to be seen whether his trial would be held ahead of the Party Congress next month or after it as he was considered very popular, specially among the middle classes and poor people.
Wang justified his defection to the US Consulate in February this year stating that it was aimed at escaping from the wrath of Bo and save his own life. According to his testimony, he entered the US Consulate under the pretext of discussing business and later sought asylum.
Besides the complicity in the murder of the British businessman, Wang was charged with defection, corruption and misuse of power. While charging him with all these offences, prosecution however sought lenient sentence for him stating that it was due to his efforts that Gu’s involvement has come to the light and he cooperated with investigators in unravelling the case. (PTI)