For China's leaders, the Bo Xilai problem has not gone away

Will Bo Xilai's appeal against his recent criminal conviction and life sentence make another contribution to the legal education of the Chinese people? Bo's trial offered hundreds of millions of his countrymen their first vivid glimpse of how an accused criminal might actively defend himself in court, instead of meekly complying with the usual ritual of confession and apology in an effort to obtain a lenient sentence.

Although the legal systems of all countries often treat compliant defendants more favourably than others, the People's Republic, from its establishment, made "leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist" the cornerstone of its criminal justice practice. Yet, at his trial, Bo defiantly insisted on his statutory right to challenge the prosecution's charges and confront the witnesses against him.

Surprisingly, his former colleagues in the Communist Party leadership, contrary to China's custom, actually permitted several prosecution witnesses not only to appear in court, but also to be subjected to defence cross-examination.

By exercising his statutory right to appeal against his conviction, Bo will be exposing another major stage in China's newly revised criminal procedure to public scrutiny. According to traditional Chinese communist thinking, appealing only further demonstrates the failure of an accused to atone for his guilt. This constitutes a brazen challenge to the state, an unnecessary drain on its resources and a condemnation of the police, prosecutors and judges who handled the case.

In ordinary prosecutions as well as political cases, Chinese law enforcement personnel often apply great pressure on a defendant not to appeal, even before the trial concludes. They sometimes urge the defendant, before he is sentenced, to promise the trial court that he will not appeal, increasing his chances of leniency. The authorities tell him that an appeal is likely to be worthless. After all, the trial court frequently consults the appellate court before imposing sentence, and in sensitive cases political leaders instruct the courts about the outcome. Moreover, a defendant's jailers can truthfully cite statistics confirming that few defendants appeal and few appellants succeed.

If persuasion proves ineffective, jailers may resort to intimidation, torture and threats of future mistreatment in prison as well as abuse of the defendant's family. In famous political cases, appeal is especially embarrassing to the Communist Party, so Bo must have experienced tremendous pressure.

In 2008, former Politburo member and Shanghai party secretary Chen Liangyu did not appeal against his 18-year sentence. Bo's wife, Gu Kailai , did not appeal against her murder conviction and suspended death sentence. Nor did Bo's infamous police chief, Wang Lijun , seek review of his 15-year sentence.