Chinese court rejects Bo Xilai appeal against life sentence conviction

Updated: 14:40, 25 October 2013

Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai today lost an appeal against his conviction and life sentence for corruption and abuse of power in one of the country’s most politically-charged trials in decades.

The ruling is the latest development in a major scandal for the Communist Party leadership that included revelations that his wife murdered British businessman Neil Heywood and that his former aide made a failed attempt to defect to the United States.

Bo was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power by a lower court in Shandong late last month and sentenced to life in prison.

Security was tight ahead of today’s ruling with the roads around Shandong province’s Higher People’s Court sealed off.

State broadcaster CCTV showed Bo, a former Politburo member and party boss in Chongqing, in court wearing a black jacket over a white shirt, faintly smiling as he stood flanked by two tall uniformed guards, his hands clasped in front of him.

Scandal: some believe Bo has been used as a scapegoat by the Communist Party leadership The hearing appeared to have been brief, with the verdict coming about an hour after a convoy believed to be carrying Bo was seen arriving at the court.

“The facts of the first instance verdict are clear, the evidence is reliable, sufficient and the sentence is appropriate,” the high court said in its ruling, which was posted on its website.

The court said his offences “led to extremely severe social consequences and caused major damage to the interest of the country and the people”.

Today’s ruling was not unexpected, with many political analysts saying its outcome was pre-determined by Communist Party leaders keen to put Bo away long enough to prevent him from making a comeback.

As party boss, Bo led a crackdown on what he called mafia activities but that critics say was in part an excuse to arrest wealthy private entrepreneurs, torture them into confessing to crimes then jail them after summary trials and seize their assets.

“Bo Xilai controlled the police, prosecutors and courts in Chongqing and he cannot avoid responsibility for the wrongful convictions that took place there,” said Li Zhuang, a lawyer who had been jailed in the anti-gang crackdown.

“As long as there is no redress, it’s difficult to put a full-stop on Bo’s case.”


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