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18th Party Congress Watch (10) Gu Kailai’s Indictment
Mr. Gao Wenqian,
today Xinhua News Agency released a brief report
about the indictment of Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, and of Zhang Xiaojun on charges of intentional homicide.
What are your comments on this?
This is today’s top story.
The indictment shows that Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao are handling matters according to preset guidelines.
The top leaders simply cannot justify not providing some accounting of the Bo Xilai incident
to people both within and outside of the party prior to the 18th Party Congress.
And dealing with the Gu Kailai homicide case serves to pave the road for handling the Bo Xilai case.
So, what are the preset guidelines under these circumstances?
There are two.
One: stay clear of political debates [within the Party].
Two: stay clear of the issue of corruption,
because no one in the high echelons of the Communist Party is clean.
Thus, in essence, this is a political trial,
and we can predict that the trial of Gu Kailai’s homicide case will be a political trial,
and it won’t be handled in accordance with the recently amended Criminal Procedure Law.
So, it’s a black box operation.
Mr. Gao Wenqian, what did the Xinhua report reveal?
I think there are two points here.
The Bo Xilai case is a hot potato in the hands of Hu and Wen— they can’t be too harsh or too lenient.
What are the two pieces of information?
First, Bo Guagua [the son of Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai] is implicated.
The report hinted at the connection between Guagua and the Bo family’s overseas assets.
In the Bo family, Bo Guagua is the only person who is free, and is overseas.
If Bo Guagua says anything during the course of the prosecution, it will have a huge impact on Gu Kailai’s trial.
So this is a warning to him: think before you speak!
If he speaks carelessly,
it’s possible they will ask the American government to extradite him on money laundering charges.
That is the first point.
The second is about Gu Kailai.
Although the charge is intentional homicide, the authorities cut her some slack.
They say she committed *** because Neil Heywood threatened Bo Guagua’s safety.
And therefore it is not a capital crime.
This aspect is exactly what I meant by a political trial.
If they punished Gu Kailai too harshly,
it will cause an intense backlash from Bo’s supporters within the Party.
This is what Hu and Wen worry about most.
Thank you, Mr. Gao Wenqian!