China upholds life sentence for Xilai

JINAN: A court in eastern China rejected an appeal by ousted senior politician Bo Xilai on Friday and, as expected, upheld his life sentence on charges of bribery, corruption and abuse of power.
It said the evidence against him was clear.
Bo, once a rising star in China’s leadership circles who had cultivated a following through his populist, quasi-Maoist policies, was jailed for life in September after a dramatic fall from grace that shook the ruling Communist Party.
His career was stopped short last year by a murder scandal in which his wife, Gu Kailai, was convicted of poisoning a British businessman, Neil Heywood, who had been a family friend.
The high court Jinan in the eastern province of Shandong, where Bo was originally tried, said that it was satisfied the first trial had done justice in the case. “This court verified the facts and evidence of the court of first instance,” Shandong high court spokesman Hou Jianjun told a news conference.
“The reasons for appeal presented by Bo Xilai and the opinions of his counsel did not have factual and legal basis, and were not tenable.”
The court “ruled to reject the appeal, and uphold the original judgment”, Hou added. “The above ruling is the final judgment.”
President Xi Jinping, who took office in March, will have wanted the Bo affair settled because the next few weeks are critical for his government. (Reuters)