This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/world/asia/wang-lijun-verdict.html
The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Verdict Expected for Chinese Official Linked to Scandal | Verdict Expected for Chinese Official Linked to Scandal |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| BEIJING — The Chinese authorities are expected to announce on Monday morning the verdict in the trial of Wang Lijun, a former police chief who fled to a United States Consulate last February and told diplomats there that the wife of a senior politician had murdered a British businessman. | BEIJING — The Chinese authorities are expected to announce on Monday morning the verdict in the trial of Wang Lijun, a former police chief who fled to a United States Consulate last February and told diplomats there that the wife of a senior politician had murdered a British businessman. |
| Court officials in the southwest provincial capital of Chengdu, where the trial took place last week, said the announcement would be made at 8:30 a.m. Mr. Wang, 52, was tried on four charges: defection, abuse of power, taking bribes and bending the law for personal gain. The court is expected to find Mr. Wang guilty on the four charges, since verdicts in Chinese criminal cases, especially ones with a political dimension, are often predetermined. | |
| Mr. Wang spent nearly 36 hours at the United States Consulate in Chengdu and set off one of the biggest political scandals here in a generation. He told diplomats that the wife of Bo Xilai, a Communist Party leader, had poisoned the Briton, Neil Heywood, last November. After an overnight stay, Mr. Wang left the consulate in the custody of state security officers and presumably told investigators about the murder, too. Mr. Bo was removed last March as party chief of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, where Mr. Wang had served as police chief, and was suspended from the Politburo a month later. | Mr. Wang spent nearly 36 hours at the United States Consulate in Chengdu and set off one of the biggest political scandals here in a generation. He told diplomats that the wife of Bo Xilai, a Communist Party leader, had poisoned the Briton, Neil Heywood, last November. After an overnight stay, Mr. Wang left the consulate in the custody of state security officers and presumably told investigators about the murder, too. Mr. Bo was removed last March as party chief of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, where Mr. Wang had served as police chief, and was suspended from the Politburo a month later. |
| Ms. Gu was convicted last month of murder and given a death sentence with a two-year suspension, which means she is likely to get a long-term prison sentence and not be put to death. With the end of Mr. Wang’s trial, Mr. Bo is the one remaining major figure yet to be tried. Speculation abounds over whether there will be an announcement or leaked statements concerning his fate before a once-a-decade leadership transition that the Communist Party has scheduled for this fall. | |
| There has been speculation, too, about whether Mr. Bo, who was being investigated for what the state news media called “serious disciplinary violations,” will face criminal charges or suffer punitive measures within the party system. Last Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency released an official account of Mr. Wang’s trial, including testimony asserting that Mr. Bo had slapped Mr. Wang on Jan. 19, a day after Mr. Wang had told Mr. Bo about his suspicions over Ms. Gu’s role in the Heywood murder. The public announcement of that episode indicated that the party might decide to try Mr. Bo on a criminal charge of attempting to cover up the murder. (Even before the Xinhua report, American officials had said that Mr. Wang had told American diplomats in Chengdu that Mr. Bo had hit him.) | |
| The Xinhua article did not name Mr. Bo as the person who slapped Mr. Wang, but the phrase used to describe him left no doubt as to the person’s identity. | The Xinhua article did not name Mr. Bo as the person who slapped Mr. Wang, but the phrase used to describe him left no doubt as to the person’s identity. |
| The official account of the trial also emphasized arguments from both prosecutors and defense lawyers for the court to show leniency toward Mr. Wang. The account said Mr. Wang had cooperated with investigations into transgressions by others. This was clearly a reference to Ms. Gu’s case, but it might have also indicated that Mr. Wang helped with the inquiries into Mr. Bo. | The official account of the trial also emphasized arguments from both prosecutors and defense lawyers for the court to show leniency toward Mr. Wang. The account said Mr. Wang had cooperated with investigations into transgressions by others. This was clearly a reference to Ms. Gu’s case, but it might have also indicated that Mr. Wang helped with the inquiries into Mr. Bo. |
| Court officials also laid out Mr. Wang’s role in the Heywood murder. Mr. Wang was accused of helping cover up for Ms. Gu after she told him that she had murdered Mr. Heywood, and he was formally charged with bending the law for personal gain. Court officials also said that one day before the murder, Mr. Wang spoke about Mr. Heywood with Ms. Gu and agreed to keep the Briton under surveillance. | |
| During Ms. Gu’s trial, court officials said Ms. Gu killed Mr. Heywood because she believed that he was threatening her son, Bo Guagua, who graduated from a master’s program at Harvard University this summer. | During Ms. Gu’s trial, court officials said Ms. Gu killed Mr. Heywood because she believed that he was threatening her son, Bo Guagua, who graduated from a master’s program at Harvard University this summer. |
| The court account of Mr. Wang’s trial had a bizarre description of the son trying to drive to meet Mr. Wang at a city outside Chongqing one night and almost getting into an accident. That story was included in the account to show rising tensions between Mr. Wang and Ms. Gu in the weeks after Ms. Gu killed Mr. Heywood. | The court account of Mr. Wang’s trial had a bizarre description of the son trying to drive to meet Mr. Wang at a city outside Chongqing one night and almost getting into an accident. That story was included in the account to show rising tensions between Mr. Wang and Ms. Gu in the weeks after Ms. Gu killed Mr. Heywood. |
| After Bo Xilai slapped Mr. Wang on Jan. 19, the account said, Mr. Wang ordered his police allies to collect evidence on the murder that would show Ms. Gu’s involvement. Mr. Wang had several police officers keep separate pieces of evidence, including a blood sample from Mr. Heywood’s heart and a secret recording Mr. Wang had made of Ms. Gu confessing the murder to him. After the authorities took him to Beijing, the account said, Mr. Wang asked a police ally, Li Yang, to turn over the blood sample to investigators. | After Bo Xilai slapped Mr. Wang on Jan. 19, the account said, Mr. Wang ordered his police allies to collect evidence on the murder that would show Ms. Gu’s involvement. Mr. Wang had several police officers keep separate pieces of evidence, including a blood sample from Mr. Heywood’s heart and a secret recording Mr. Wang had made of Ms. Gu confessing the murder to him. After the authorities took him to Beijing, the account said, Mr. Wang asked a police ally, Li Yang, to turn over the blood sample to investigators. |
| Mr. Wang’s lawyer, Wang Yuncai, who is not related to Mr. Wang, has said the Xinhua account of the court proceedings was mostly accurate. But she disputed the accusation that Mr. Wang had taken bribes from two associates of the Bo family, Xu Ming, a tycoon, and Yu Junshi, a former military intelligence officer. | Mr. Wang’s lawyer, Wang Yuncai, who is not related to Mr. Wang, has said the Xinhua account of the court proceedings was mostly accurate. But she disputed the accusation that Mr. Wang had taken bribes from two associates of the Bo family, Xu Ming, a tycoon, and Yu Junshi, a former military intelligence officer. |
Patrick Zuo contributed research from Beijing. | Patrick Zuo contributed research from Beijing. |