The most senior official charged in a major crackdown on organized crime and graft in southwestern China went on trial yesterday, in the climax of a lurid, sensational court marathon.
Wen Qiang (文強), former director of the justice department in Chongqing, went on trial accused of accepting bribes, protecting mafia rings and rape, a court statement said.
He was being tried along with his wife and three top police officials in proceedings that began early yesterday and were expected to last five days, said the statement by the No. 5 Intermediate People’s Court.
PHOTO: AFP
Wen, 54, along with his wife Zhou Xiaoya (周小雅), is accused of accepting 19 million yuan (US$2.8 million) in bribes. The charges against Wen, who was also once a top-ranked Chongqing police department official, included four counts of rape, the statement said.
Previous state press reports have alleged he raped a string of women including B-list film and music starlets.
Such lurid details, along with widespread speculation the crackdown was linked to political maneuvring at the apex of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), have gripped the nation since trials began late last year.
The case has come to symbolize China’s struggle against rampant corruption and expanding organized crime.
The CCP has railed against graft for years, seeking to counter public anger over regular reports of larcenous officials and stories of excess and debauchery among party leaders.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) himself has repeatedly warned that graft threatens to undermine the party’s legitimacy.
In a sign of the public interest in the case, the court received applications from 72 media organizations from across the nation seeking to attend Wen’s trial, a local Chongqing news Web site said.
The crackdown is widely seen as a bid by Bo Xilai (薄熙來) — who was appointed party secretary of Chongqing in 2007 and is considered one of the party’s most popular and charismatic figures — to move up in the national hierarchy.
Bo, a former commerce minister and son of revolutionary elder Bo Yibo (薄一波), is believed to be angling for a spot on the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee, the top national leadership, China politics analyst Willy Lam (林和立) said.
“Bo Xilai is making a last-ditch bid to get into the Politburo Standing Committee in 2012. He is 60 years old, so this is probably his last chance,” said Lam, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
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