JINAN, China — Chinese prosecutors demanded a heavy sentence for ousted top politician Bo Xilai on Monday, the fifth day of his landmark trial, saying his “whimsical” challenge to bribery, graft and abuse of power charges flew in the face of the evidence.
Bo was a rising star in China’s leadership circles when his career was stopped short last year by a murder scandal in which his wife Gu Kailai was convicted of poisoning a British businessman, Neil Heywood, who had been a family friend.
Bo, who was Communist Party chief of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, has mounted an unexpectedly feisty defense since the trial began on Thursday, denouncing testimony against him by his wife as the ravings of a mad woman.
He has repeatedly said he is not guilty of any of the charges, although he has admitted to making some bad decisions and to shaming his country by his handling of his former police chief Wang Lijun, who first told Bo that Gu had probably murdered Heywood.
Wang fled to the US consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu in February last year after confronting Bo with evidence that Gu was involved in the murder. Wang was also jailed last year for covering up the crime.
Summing up the evidence on the fifth day of the trial, the state’s prosecutor said Bo should not be shown leniency as he had recanted admissions of guilt provided ahead of the trial.
“Over the past few days of the trial, the accused Bo Xilai has not only flatly denied a vast amount of conclusive evidence and facts of his crimes, he has also repudiated his pre-trial written testimony and materials,” the court cited the prosecutor as saying.
“We take this opportunity to remind Bo Xilai: The facts of the crimes are objective, and can’t be shifted around on your whim,” it said, without saying which of the four prosecutors had made the remarks.
The trial has heard many salacious allegations against Bo, with transcripts, although these are probably highly edited, being carried on the court’s official microblog.
The prosecution has alleged that Bo took more than 20 million yuan ($3.27 million) in bribes from two businessmen, embezzled another 5 million yuan from a government building project, and abused his power in trying to cover up Gu’s crime.
Details have been presented of a villa on the French Riviera bought for the Bo family by businessman Xu Ming, who also paid for foreign trips by Bo and Gu’s only son, Bo Guagua, offering a glimpse into the lifestyles of China’s elite politicians.
Bo said that he had initially admitted to Communist Party anti-corruption investigators that he received bribes as he had been “under psychological pressure.”
Bo also said he been framed by one of the men accused of bribing him, businessman Tang Xiaolin, who he called a “mad dog.”
The prosecutor said Bo’s lack of contrition would count against him.
“The severeness of the accused’s crimes, and that he refused to admit guilt, don’t match the circumstances of leniency, and [he] must be severely punished in accordance with the law.”
Despite Bo’s gutsy defense, a guilty verdict is a foregone conclusion as China’s courts are controlled by the Communist Party. State media, which speaks for the party, has already all but condemned him.
Bo could theoretically be given the death penalty for the charges, though many observers say that is unlikely as the party will not want to make a martyr of a man whose left-leaning social welfare policies won much popular support.
