Post date: Aug 22, 2013 3:3:47 PM
The first day of fallen Chinese leader Bo Xilai's trial ends in east China with him mounting a feisty defence.
JINAN CITY, SHANDONG PROVINCE, CHINA (AUGUST 22, 2013) (REUTERS) - The first day of ousted politician Bo Xilai's trial concluded on Thursday (August 22) in east China.
Motorcades, believed to be carrying Bo and other participants of the trial, were seen driving out of the heavily guarded Jinan Intermediate People's Court at around 6:20 p.m. (1020 GMT).The 64-year-old former Communist Party chief of the south-western city of Chongqing has been charged with illegally taking almost 27 million yuan ($4.41 million), corruption and abuse of power and will almost certainly be found guilty.
Bo's denial of one of the charges and strong language as he made his first public appearance since being ousted early last year were unexpected. But observers said he could have struck a deal with authorities to show he was getting a fair trial in exchange for a pre-arranged sentence.
President Xi Jinping is seeking support from the party as he seeks to push reforms that will rebalance the economy, and will want Bo's trial to be finished quickly and with a minimum of fuss.
Foreign media were not allowed to attend the trial and Bo's remarks were carried on the court's official microblog, so are likely to have been highly edited. Still, the transcripts provided by the court mark a level of openness that is unprecedented for a trial in China.
Bo was charged with receiving about 21.8 million yuan ($3.56 million) in bribes from Xu Ming, a plastics-to-property entrepreneur who is a close friend and is in custody, and Tang, the general manager of Hong Kong-based export company Dalian International Development Ltd, the court said.
Bo called Tang "a mad dog" who wanted to "frame me out of consideration for his own interests", according to the court's microblog feed.
Bo also denied receiving bribes from Xu.
''The hearing lasted for about four hours this afternoon. The court conducted investigation into charges against defendant Bo Xilai over taking bribes, worth 20.68 million yuan ($3.38 million), from Xu Ming, president of Dalian Shide Group,'' court spokesman Liu Yanjie read out a statement after the hearing adjourned.
''During the hearing, the prosecutor, defendant Bo Xilai and his lawyers posed multiple rounds of queries to Xu Ming, especially Bo Xilai and his lawyers repeated questions about the details, and got into multiple times of fierce confrontations,'' he added.
Bo's downfall has pitted supporters of his Maoist-themed egalitarian social programmes against the capitalist-leaning economic road taken by the leadership in Beijing, exposing divisions within the ruling party as well as Chinese society.
Bo was one of China's rising political stars and his trial in the eastern city of Jinan marks the culmination of the country's biggest political scandal since the 1976 downfall of the Gang of Four at the end of the Cultural Revolution.
Bo's trial will last for two days and the verdict is likely to be in early September, state broadcasterCCTV said