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More queries than answers from trial

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Thursday's trial of Gu Kailai, the wife of Chongqing's former high-flying party boss Bo Xilai , raised more questions than answers about the biggest criminal scandal in the mainland's recent history.

Gu allegedly confessed to poisoning British businessman Neil Heywood in November following a financial dispute.

The high-profile case is seen as a test of the party leadership's will to promote justice and the rule of law. Some analysts say it also amounts to a trial of the justice system after three decades of legal reforms, given the glaring holes in the prosecution's case.

'There are too many questions left unanswered from this hasty trial,' said Lin Wen-cheng, director of the National Sun Yat-sen University's Institute of Mainland China Studies in Taiwan.

Lin said that the complex trial's conclusion in just six hours was far too hasty.

Mainland media outlets relied solely on Xinhua's reporting of the trial - which until late yesterday offered few details about the proceedings in the Hefei Intermediate People's Court in Anhui province.

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