A former police chief who revealed China’s biggest political scandal in two decades admitted defection and did not contest charges of taking bribes and illegal surveillance at his two-day trial ending yesterday, a court official said.
Wang Lijun (王立軍), ex-police chief of Chongqing municipality, sought to conceal the murder of a British businessman by the wife of one of the nation’s most senior and ambitious politicians, Bo Xilai (薄熙來), an account of the trial said.
Foreign reporters were barred from attending the trial amid tight security around the courthouse.
A spokesman for the Chengdu Intermediate Court read out a statement to reporters at in a nearby hotel, but no mention was made of Bo.
“The accused Wang Lijun voluntarily gave himself up after committing the crime of defection, and then gave a truthful account of the main crimes involved in his defection,” court spokesman Yang Yuguan said.
However, the official statement said Wang, who was shown on state television looking relaxed during the hearing, exposed leads to major crimes committed by unnamed others.
The charges against Wang carry sentences ranging from a lengthy jail term to life in prison and the death penalty. Sentencing is expected within 10 days.
“The accused Wang Lijun voluntarily gave himself up after committing the crime of defection, and then gave a truthful account of the main crimes involved in his defection,” the official statement published by state media said. “The accused Wang Lijun exposed leads concerning major criminal offences by others, and played an important role in investigating and dealing with the cases concerned.”
Wang’s trial was closely watched for any evidence that Bo had ordered Wang to cover up his wife’s involvement in the murder — a sign that Bo himself could be next to face trial. So far, Bo has only been accused of breaching internal party discipline.
The Bo scandal has rocked Beijing, exposing rifts within the party — elements of which are strong supporters of Bo’s populist, left-leaning policies — at a time when China is preparing for a once-in-a-decade leadership change.
Wang, 52, lifted the lid on the murder and cover-up of a British businessman in February when he went to a US consulate and, according to sources, told envoys there about the murder that would later bring down Bo.
Within two months of Wang’s 24-hour visit to the consulate, Bo was sacked as party boss and from the Chinese Communist Party’s politburo and Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai (谷開來), was accused of poisoning the businessman. Gu has since been given a suspended death sentence for the killing late last year.
Wang’s trial started on Monday in the city of Chengdu, the city where Wang staged his dramatic flight to the US consulate, with an unannounced closed-door session to hear charges of defection and abuse of power, Xinhua news agency said.
An “open trial” to hear charges of bribe taking and “bending the law for selfish ends” was held yesterday, Xinhua said. However, the trial remained behind closed doors in the imposing, gray stone Chengdu City Intermediate People’s Court.
The prosecutors said Wang “clearly knew that Bogu Kailai was a major suspect in a case of intentional homicide, and deliberately concealed that so she would not be prosecuted.” Bogu is the official, but rarely used surname of Bo Xilai’s wife.
However, Wang decided to later reopen the investigation.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese