Bo Xilai trial is a public show but within bounds, analysts say

The unusual decision to run an official live blog of Bo Xilai's trial has given the former Chongqing party boss the chance to mount his feisty defence in public - but analysts believe Bo is defending himself within limits agreed by the authorities.

The Communist Party is also using the blog and Bo's defence to boost its image by trumpeting its transparency, they say.

However, the analysts say that despite the promising signs, the court in Jinan is fundamentally playing the traditional role of a mainland court in a politically charged trial: that of a political stage, rather than an independent organ of the judiciary.

"This [the court's Weibo microblog] appears to be an unusual attempt by the new leadership to promote transparency and grant the public access to the highly-watched case," said Zhang Sizhi , a leading lawyer who defended Mao Zedong 's wife Jiang Qing in the famous 1980-81 trial of the Gang of Four.

"However, all the noises made are nothing more than a political show that is designed to boost the new leadership's image at home and abroad, rather than the promotion of the rule of law," Zhang said.

Microblog posts published by the court since the case paint a picture of a defiant Bo, eager to overturn his previous confessions and deny most of the charges against him; a stark contrast to the meek performance of defendants in most cases, including fallen politicians Chen Xitong and Chen Liangyu who accepted all charges against them.