Bo Xilai has appointed two defence lawyers to represent him at his future trial on bribery and other charges, the attorneys’ staff said on Friday.
The appointments are a crucial step ahead of a criminal trial for Bo, whose downfall was one of the biggest scandals to hit the ruling Communist Party in decades and exposed deep divisions in the top leadership.
Bo requested that Li Guifang and Wang Zhaofeng, both partners at the Deheng Law Offices in Beijing, represent him at his trial, the lawyers’ secretaries confirmed to reporters.
“(Li) is Bo Xilai’s lawyer, appointed by family members and Bo himself,” Li’s secretary said. Wang’s secretary repeated a similar statement from Wang.
The appointments had been made with the agreement of members of Bo’s family “during the last one or two months”, Wang’s secretary said.
The secretaries said they had no information about a date or location for the trial.
Bo used to be the party chief of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing and a member of the Communist Party’s 25-member Politburo, and had been tipped to rise to the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s highest executive body.