Bo Xilai insists he did not abuse power

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Bo Xilai insists he did not abuse power

By AN BAIJIE and ZHAO YINAN (China Daily) 08:19, August 26, 2013

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Evidence suggests fallen official's behavior at court will not merit any lenient punishment

Former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai on Sunday denied the charge of abusing power to cover up a murder case involving his wife and to sack a police chief without proper procedures, as the high-profile trial entered its fourth day.

Bo, 64, a former member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, was charged with bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

The trial started on Thursday at Jinan Intermediate People's Court, and the court investigation and cross-examination were completed on Sunday morning. The trial is to resume on Monday.

Prosecutors said on Sunday that Bo did not turn himself in, confess his crimes or inform against others. Such compliance can result in more lenient punishment.

Prosecutors presented evidence on the charge of abuse of power against Bo on Sunday, showing that he ordered the investigation of officials in charge of handling his wife Bogu Kailai's intentional homicide case.

She was sentenced to a suspended death sentence in August 2012 for murdering British citizen Neil Heywood on Nov 13, 2011.

The prosecutors' evidence also showed that on Jan 28, 2012, then Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun reported the murder case to Bo, and Bo violated organizational procedures to remove Wang from his post five days later, which led to Wang fleeing to the US Consulate General in Chengdu on Feb 6, 2012.

Wang, 53, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in September 2012 for bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and accepting bribes.

Wang appeared in court on Saturday and testified that Bo hit him in the face and smashed a cup in front of two other local officials to threaten them into silence about the murder case. Bo said on Sunday that smashing the cup did not necessarily show his opposition to probing the murder case. It only reflected his lack of self-restraint.

Bo insisted that Wang's testimony was falsified and that as a defector "with extremely bad character", Wang is not qualified to testify.