Advertisement
Advertisement
Bo Xilai
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Bo Xilai. Photo: Reuters

Bo Xilai appoints lawyers for trial

Bo Xilai
AFP

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.

But he fell from grace after his police chief and right-hand man in Chongqing fled to a US consulate following the death of Neil Heywood, a British businessman, reportedly to seek asylum.

He has not been seen in public since last spring and his exact whereabouts are unknown.

Bo’s wife Gu Kailai was later convicted of Heywood’s murder and given a suspended death sentence, typically commuted to life in prison.

The ruling Communist Party first placed Bo under internal investigation, and turned his case over to criminal authorities after discovering evidence of bribery and abuse of power, the official news agency Xinhua said in October.

Reports last year said that Bo’s family had asked Li Xiaolin, who defended Gu at her trial, to represent the politician.

But Li said he was “not allowed” to do so, despite his help being requested by Bo’s son Bo Guagua. “Bo himself did not agree to the appointment,” he said.

Li added that he was not disappointed at losing the opportunity to play a part in China’s highest-profile and most sensitive trial in decades. “The less I know, the better,” he told reporters.

Post