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Flies and Tigers | 抓蝇打虎

Appeal dismissed, Bo to serve out life sentence as conviction stands
薄熙来案维持原判

Source: Agencies | October 26, 2013, Saturday | Print Edition

A COURT in east China rejected an appeal by disgraced politician Bo Xilai yesterday and upheld his life sentence on charges of bribery, corruption and abuse of power.

The Higher People’s Court of Shandong Province said the evidence against Bo was clear and it was satisfied the first trial had done justice in the case.

Bo, 64, a former member of the Politburo of the Party’s Central Committee and Party chief in the southwest city of Chongqing, was convicted of embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power, and sentenced to life in prison by the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court in Shandong in September.

He was found guilty of accepting bribes totaling more than 20.44 million yuan (US$3.3 million), embezzling 5 million yuan and abusing power in handling his wife’s murder case of British businessman Neil Heywood.

The higher court said Bo’s written confession, the testimony of witnesses, and related documentary and physical evidence were corroborated, while the grounds for appeal and the defense opinions of Bo and his defenders were found to have no factual or legal basis.

“This court verified the facts and evidence of the court of first instance,” the higher court’s spokesman Hou Jianjun told a news conference. “The reasons for appeal presented by Bo and the opinions of his counsel did not have factual and legal basis, and were not tenable.”

The court “ruled to reject the appeal, and uphold the original judgment,” he said. “The above ruling is the final judgment.”

The court said Bo’s offenses “led to extremely severe social consequences and caused major damage to the interest of the country and the people,” according to the ruling.

Before yesterday’s ruling, a collegial panel interrogated Bo several times and heard opinions of his lawyers, verified all evidence, comprehensively examined the facts confirmed during the first trial and legal applications to fully safeguard the litigation rights of Bo and the defense lawyers, Hou said.

Bo likely has no further recourse to appeal, as he could only take his case to the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing if he had been sentenced to death.

He will now be sent back to the Qincheng jail, just north of Beijing, and will likely never be seen in public again, although he could be released on medical parole some day.

Hou said four members of Bo’s family had been in court, and that the hearing had been conducted with “normal order.”

Bo mounted an unexpectedly fiery defense during his trial at the lower court that ran nearly five days in late August, denouncing testimony against him by his wife Bogu Kailai as the ravings of a mad woman hoping to have her own sentence reduced.

He repeatedly said that he was not guilty of any of the charges, although he admitted making some bad decisions and shaming his country by his handling of former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun who first told Bo that Bogu had probably murdered Heywood.

Wang, who fled to the US consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu in February last year after confronting Bo with evidence that Bogu was involved in the murder, was also jailed last year for covering up the crime.

 

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